VAMWorld 2.0

A small part of the crack fell out so metal flowed into the gap.

Appears to be common stains from circulation. No connection to silver content, that will be uniform to the 0.0005 or much less.

See the new Message thread concerning these Treasury journals.

Daily chronological entries by the Treasurer of the United States recording the Treasury or Mint office involved, coinage by date and total, quantity on-hand, quantity paid out to date, and quantity received. These will be posted on NNP next week, I think. I have scanned the first 9 complete volume...

The Engraver pulled usable reverse dies from those returned by mints. These were renumbered and issued the next calendar year. All obverse dies of the previous year were destroyed. Reverse dies destroyed sets a minimum on the quantity used - it's a good indicator, just not perfect. Engraver Barber m...

We are also without information about the dates/mints of coins melted 1918-19.

Reverse dies, 1892, from New Orleans Mint destroyed. This might help in matching against varieties.

I hope it will make navigating easier for those doing Morgan dollar studies and research.

With more US Mint Bureau documents becoming available on-line through the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP), it seems a good time to give those doing numismatic research a little guidance. This will show how various groups of documents are connected and suggest which files to search for letters relatin...

OK. I'll post here when these are available. Right now there are 7 interested people.
RWB

OK. I'll add your name to the list. The label indicates this covers only 12 years. Haven't located anything beyond 1891.

This letter and memorandum show one of the ways the Mint Bureau and Treasury used to push standard silver dollars into circulation --- just like today "Free Shipping!" on all your orders! As you can see from the bottom of the memo, "free shipping" came out of the mint's profit on making the coins, s...

Curiously, the Annual Assay Commission records do not mention this error even though coins from these deliveries were part of the New Orleans specimens submitted. It is possible the Commission merely did not open any of the relevant sample envelopes, or that they saw the error but did not report it ...

To a Mintmaster, clashed dies (or "blanked dies" as the US Mint called them) are serious lapses in mechanical reliability and coin quality. Clashes weaken dies, can initiate cracking, and produce inferior coins - all of which make coining money more expensive and increase risk of counterfeiting.

A few months later, the New Orleans Coiner was replaced.

Almost 3 years ago I posted the following letter which demonstrated that one of the most popular Morgan dollar die varieties was first identified in 1891 during the US Mint's normal "special assay" tests. 18910922 NO Letter E clash near eagle tail feathers-1.jpg Recently, I located a second letter a...

RE: "I resubmitted (raw) a 26-P v2 they graded 63 last time around. Went 65 this time. Will post pics later. Almost as good as the 21-P goldfish in 58 that went 63 the second time around." and RE: "On top of that, an NGC MS63 crack-out (I just wanted it in a PCGS holder) came back AU58!" Both are pa...

Thanks! That makes things a lot clearer.

Just an observation. If the clash is common then it should absolutely be listed in the variety catalog --- because that is where you want new collectors to go to find answers. Leaving it out only frustrates and confuses new collectors of varieties.

The first New Orleans Mint Morgan dollars were delivered Feb 27 (10,000) and Feb 28 (12,000) 1879.