1890-CC Morgan $1 CC Coin of the Week – 12-21-09

Paul-

I need to do some more reading but here is my thought:

The tailbar is a VAM 4, not 4A, 4C or something of the like. Nowhere have I seen a progression of this reverse. So to me it looks like the first coins minted with this reverse die have the tailbar. I dont see any other VAMs for the year that seem to have the same reverse as the tailbar but pre gouge.

To me it seems plausible that the VAM 12 was being made, they changed the reverse die, started the VAM 4 and then later noticed the gouge and ceased minting with that die.

There are also DMPLs of the VAM 4 which to me means either it was a fresh die newly polished with a gouge or it was a used die that was polished and someone gouged it in polishing. If it was a used die that was polished there should have been enough struck before the polishing that we would have a VAM number for the pre-gouged die.

In reading my statement in the first post saying the die was made with the gouge sounds incorrect. I should have made it more clear it was gouged before minting began, not derived from the master hub. That is a big difference.

I have read before where it is stated it started out gouged and will look for that info. It is a FUN debate!!

Thats right, the VAM 4 and VAM 12 share the same obverse. Both obverses have a die gouge in the back of the eye. The VAM 12 page shows it.

www.vamworld.com/1890-CC+VAM-12

The VAM 4 page only shows the reverse gouge.

www.vamworld.com/1890-CC+VAM-4

I do not know which obverse was used first. I think I read that information somewhere but cannot recall where. My gut reaction is that the VAM 12 obverse is the earlier die. Maybe I read it in our Chronicle?

This link on VAM world mentions it as a mother die:

Die gouges

Thats a new term for me. I see what they are talking about. If the VAM 4 reverse was used without the gouge, then the appearance of the gouge would have caused a revision to VAM4A. But that didnt happen. Like some of the other known gouges, the '88-S VAM 13 and '80-O VAM 48, they appeared before any coins were struck. Now if these three had later exhibited large die breaks or cracks then there would have been revisions: 4A, 13A, or 48A to account for those.

The interesting question is what would happen if a '90-CC VAM 4 turned up without the die gouge? That would be interesting. Would they revise the die gouged version to 4A? I dont know.

I thought I would share another tailbar image. I have seen about 4 amazing examples in the past year, including a DMPL and high MS. Here is another that screams eye appeal.

Thats a great example, Todd. I saved a pic of a Tailbar that was sold on Ebay last year. I will post it later today. Feast your eyes on this. I wish this was mine.