1927-S VAM-1J

Description

Discovered in 2016 by David Close, the 1927-S VAM-1J identifies a diagonal die gouge at the top right of the designer's initials on the obverse of this San Francisco Mint Peace Dollar. Cataloged as II1-B2a (Die Gouge Designer's Initial) with an I-2 interest rating and R-5 rarity, the obverse die designated II1 displays the die gouge that also appears on VAM 3 and VAM 5 — confirming that this same obverse die was used in multiple die pairings with different reverse dies. The researcher's notes establish that this represents the Early Die State of this obverse die, which was later paired with the VAM-3 doubled die reverse, creating a chronological sequence: VAM-1J is the earliest known use of this obverse die before it was rotated into the VAM-3 combination. The 1927-S Peace Dollar carries numismatic significance as one of the lower-mintage San Francisco issues, with approximately 866,000 pieces struck — making it one of the scarcest business strike Peace Dollars in the series. Anthony de Francisci's high-relief Liberty design, modified to the production-friendly lower relief starting in 1922, was in its sixth year of lower-relief production by 1927. The connection between VAM-1J, VAM-3, and VAM-5 through their shared obverse die illustrates the VAM system's power in reconstructing die usage sequences and production chronology from physical evidence preserved on surviving coins.

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