VAMworld writes: "
The 1878 VAM-9 Morgan silver dollar is the very first set of dies used to strike Morgan dollars! The 1878 VAM-9 is an 8 tailfeather coin... Detective work [
that began with the discovery of a March 12, 1878, article in the Chicago Daily Tribune] has revealed they began striking the new Morgan coins at 3:17 PM on March 11, 1878. The combination of the die and the time is known because a reporter was present at the event and the first coins struck were presentation pieces for President Hayes. His specific coin has been preserved and studied for die features and subsequently identified as a VAM-9.
According to a reporter present, only 303 pieces were struck when the die failed and new ones had to be used. The reverse die is identifiable because of the "comma" feather on the lower right side as looking at the eagle. Some VAMmers describe this feather as kidney-bean shaped and it is a key identifier of a VAM-9." Over 659 million
Morgan dollars have been minted, although the Pittman Act in 1918 authorized the melting of up to 350 million silver dollars and led to the melting of over 270 million Morgans.
The VAM-9 coins are among the first 303 examples minted of the first day of striking using the first Morgan dollar die pair. That VAM-9 first die pair failed on the first day of striking and simultaneously ended coin production that first day. Those 303 coins were delivered to U.S. Mint Director Henry Linderman the following day on March 12, 1878.
Was able to acquire the present example among those first 303 coins as pictured below. Thoughts? Thanks!
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS
THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: "
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
My coin website:
https://fairfaxcoins.com
Posted Today 2H 1M ago
