Klaes 51 VAMs

In 1963, Francis X. Klaes published a monograph, "Die Varieties of Morgan Silver Dollars". This preceded Leroy Van Allen's first published work by 2 years, and the first edition of the VAM book by 8. The Klaes book is a mere 26 pages and contains only 51 varieties, but it shows us an early glimpse of what Klaes found to be "one of the most fascinating, but least explored aspects of Morgan dollar collecting." I've gone through the Klaes book and converted his entries to VAM numbers that now represent them. Many of the varieties here you will recognize from popular lists now being collected, and chances are people that have been collecting these lists have most of those here. Some comprise many VAM numbers, simply comparing mint mark sizes. The Klaes book is still available on the used book market if you would like to add a historic work to your VAM library, and it is not expensive.

Fig # in Klaes	Year/MM	VAM #	Description in Klaes
1	1878 8TF	VAM 16	Dbl "LIBERTY" and stars
2 (and 4)	1878 8TF	VAM 18	Dbl "LIBERTY", date, and stars
3 (and 5)	1878 8TF	VAM 7	Dbl letters, date, and stars
6	1878 7/8TF	VAM 36,VAM 37	Normal Die
7	1878 7/8TF	VAM 44	Doubled leaves and date
8 (and 9)	1878 7TF	VAM 169	Normal 7TF PAF, dbl stars, letters, 1, LIBERTY
10	1878 7TF	VAM 81	Some doubled stars and letters
11	1878 7TF	VAM 210 (any C2)	Normal die
12	1878-S	VAM 6	Some doubled stars and letters
13	1878-CC	VAM 6,VAM 18	Dbl leaves, date, and some stars
14	1879-S	[[1879-S_VAMs|Rev. 78	PAF
15	1879-S	[[1879-S_VAMs|Rev. 79	SAF
16	1879-O	any Medium O	Small O
17	1879-O	any Large O	Large O
18	1880-S	any Medium S	Small S
19	1880-S	any Large S	Large S
20	1880-O	any Micro O	Small O
21	1880-O	any Medium O	Large O
22	1880-CC	VAM 4	PAF
23	1880-CC	VAM 6,VAM 8	SAF, Small CC
24	1880-CC	VAM 3	SAF, Large CC
25	1882-O	VAM 7	Centered O over low O
26	1882-O	VAM 13VAM , VAM 14	Centered O over slanting O
27	1882-O	VAM 3	Possible O over O
28	1882-O	VAM 4	Possible O over S
29	1884	VAM 3	Large dot
30	1884	VAM 4	Small dot
31	1886-O	VAM 1A	"E" on rev.
32	1887-O	VAM 2	Shifted date and doubled 7
33	1888-O	VAM 4	Doubled head
34	1889-O	VAM 1A	"E" on rev.
35	1891-O	VAM 1A	"E" on rev.
36	1893	VAM 4	Some doubled stars
37	1896-O	VAM 4	Small O
38	1896-O	any authentic	Large O
39	1899-S	any Medium S	Narrow S
40	1899-S	any Wide S	Wide S
41	1899-O	any Micro O	Small O
42	1899-O	any Medium O	Large O
43	1900-S	any Medium S	Narrow S
44	1900-S	any Wide S	Wide S
45	1900-O	VAM 5	Small O
46	1900-O	any Medium O	Large O
48	1900-O/CC	VAM 12	O over centered CC
49	1900-O/CC	VAM 7, 10	O over low CC
50	1901	VAM 3	Shifted eagle
51	1902-O	VAM 3, 96	Small O
52	1902-O	any authentic	Large O
54	1903-S	VAM 2	Small S
55	1903-S	any Wide S	Large S
56	1921	VAM 41B	Numerous die scratches

Figure 10 shows an obverse from either VAM 81, 33, or 30, but since it is an early die state listed as 7TF, it must be VAM 81. Figure 47 shows a 1900-O with strike doubling on the mint mark, and is not included. Figure 53 was skipped in the original printing, but some books have correction tape renumbering figures 54 through 56 as 53 through 55.