1883 CC Morgan Dollar

In the mid to late 1990's, when I was still a novice collector, I was at the annual NCNA coin show which was in Greensboro at the time. Back then I bought inexpensive Silver Dollars, which were as low as $7 at the time. I wanted to purchase a nicer coin and I looked at an 1884-CC PCGS MS-64. It was $54 and I didn't purchase it to see if I could find one at a better price. Now I wish I had bought it. Instead I ended up purchasing an uncertified 1883-CC that a dealer had in a coin album. I plan to send it off to PCGS soon but I believe it will grade an MS62. Ignorance is not bliss.

Under magnification, I noticed a die crack along the upper portion of the letters in the reverse and a little doubling. I was intrigued, and took it to Mr. Greene at A Silver Shop. The coin shop is no longer in business as Mr. Greene sold it when he retired and it eventually closed. Mr. Greene had a box of uncirculated 1883-CC Morgans and many of them had die cracks, although not as heavy as mine and mine still needs magnification to observe.

Examining the coin the other day, I identified it to be a VAM 3a die variety. Doubling can be seen on several of the letters, of which the S in States is shown below. Also there is what appears to be an Adam's Apple protruding from lady liberty's neck. This is supposed to be a die clash impression of an N. While it looks like an N I am not sure how a die clash from a reverse die would have made the N impression, given it's location and being a capital N and not a lower case n, as seen in "In God We Trust" on the reverse. 


A Coin With Cooties

A few days ago I began looking at some of my Morgans to determine if I can identify different die varieties. I went to VamWorld and analyzed different die varieties on there and compared them to the individual coins in my collection. In the process, I discovered that cooties are not limited to girls. Coins can carry them as well.

On the obverse of some Morgan dollars there exists what appears like a hairline twirling on the face of Liberty's bust near the junction of the cheek and neck. While not a rare VAM variety, I found it interesting. I have two 1878-S PCGS MS64 Morgans and one of them has cooties and the other one doesn't. Using my cheap 30x 21mm Jeweler's Loupe and my iPhone 5s I managed to take some photos of the cootie, also known as cottie, on the infected coin without having to pull out my Canon 60D and take macro photos of the surface.


One thing to note when inspecting coins for die varieties is that it is a tedious job and can produce a lot of eye strain. I would recommend examining a few coins at a time and then relaxing for a few minutes, or taking high resolution images of the coin. Of course sometimes one needs to examine a coin at different angles to detect slight doubling seen on certain die varieties that it is better to examine a coin under magnification then to decipher the die variety with imagery.
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