US Coins

1899-S VAM 7 Morgan dollar dramatic repunched date

By John Roberts

Published: Jul 7, 2016, 12 PM

Thin curves of secondary digits are visible on both 9s in the date of the 1899-S VAM-7 Morgan dollar.

Original images courtesy of John Roberts.

A close spread from repunching is found under the flag of the 1 in the date.

Image courtesy of John Roberts.

The S Mint mark is set high with its upper serif under the right edge of the bow knot on the reverse.

Image courtesy of John Roberts.

All stages of this marriage feature a small gouge under the wing parallel to the leg.

Image courtesy of John Roberts.

About VAMS column from July 25, 2016, Weekly issue of Coin Wo rld:

During most of the period that Morgan dollars were produced, four-digit gang punches were used to sink the respective dates into individual working dies. While the date position varied from die to die, the spacing between the digits remained constant almost without exception.

Because of the nature of how the dates were sunk, it’s only natural that there would be some less than perfect results. For example, when the several blows required to achieve full depth were not almost perfectly aligned, the result was a die variety we now refer to as a repunched date.

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One of the more dramatic repunched dates in the series is found on the VAM-7 1899-S Morgan dollar, first reported in October 1973 by variety hunter Bill Fivaz. His find was described in detail in the Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis.

The VAM-7 Morgan dollar may be instantly identified by the curves of secondary digits inside and above both 9s. While the feature can get faint on the first 9 in late die stage examples, the second 9 is always pretty obvious to the eye of a variety minded collector.

Closer examination reveals repunching on the underside of the flag of the 1, and this apparently is a separate event from the blow that produced the wide and slanted spread on the 99. Examination of the upper edge of the second 9 shows another secondary image in a different direction, likely the same errant blow that affected the digit 1.

This obverse seems to only be paired with one reverse. Two different sized Mint marks were used for this year. The medium, narrower style was employed for this marriage.

There is a short but strong gouge protruding from the base of the wing, parallel to the eagle’s leg.

What is a VAM?

VAM dollars are Morgan or Peace silver dollars that have been labeled according to a system of cataloging based on very small differences that determine the dies that were used to strike each coin. The system was developed by, and named for, Leroy Van Allen (VA) and A. George Mallis (M).

Victoria Stone explained how VAMs are labeled in a 1998 issue of Coin World:

"The VAM system is based upon die pairings; an individual obverse die and reverse die together receive a VAM number, such as 10. That number means that for the year the coin is dated, the coin was struck by the tenth known die pairing cataloged by Van Allen and Mallis."

VAMs are labeled with numbers (and sometimes letters for subcategories) such as VAM-2, VAM-3, VAM-4, etc.

While there are more than 3,000 different VAM varieties, the Professional Coin Grading Service recognizes only 317 Morgan and 52 Peace VAMs.

"Most of the VAMs are not significant and do not bring a premium over the common variety,” PCGS’s website reads. "The varieties that PCGS will do have been identified by variety collectors as worthy of specific recognition."