1934-S VAM-1

Description

After an eight-year production hiatus from 1929 through 1933, the Peace dollar series resumed in 1934, and the San Francisco Mint contributed 1.01 million pieces — one of the lowest mintages in the entire series and a date that commands significant collector premiums in all grades. VAM-1 designates the standard die marriage for this semi-key date, representing the baseline die pairing against which all other 1934-S sub-varieties are identified. The low mintage meant fewer working dies were consumed during the production run, which in turn limits the total number of distinct die marriages available for cataloging. Anthony de Francisci's Peace dollar design had not been struck since 1928 when production resumed, requiring the Mint to prepare new working hubs and dies from the master tooling after years of dormancy. San Francisco's S mintmark appears on the reverse below the eagle's tail feathers, and its size, position, and shape serve as key diagnostics for attributors working through the 1934-S VAM census. The 1934-S Peace dollar is frequently encountered with weak strikes, particularly on the central obverse hair detail and the reverse eagle's feathers — a characteristic attributed to the San Francisco facility's die spacing and press settings during this limited run. Collectors pursuing a complete 1934-S VAM set benefit from the relatively small number of documented varieties compared to high-mintage dates, though the low overall mintage makes locating specimens in any VAM attribution more challenging than for common dates.

External References