1921-P Baffled... Help On This VAM!

After looking much closer at it what you are seeing is indeed MD. No doubling.... It appears to be a small indentation at the top of the one and the lighting just enhanced it.

I made it through the 16 berry listings that did not mention scribble scratches. This leaves 17 berry, in the event of a miscatagorization and scribble scratches in the event that this is just a worn die. I will say that some of the descriptions were so vague that a determination could not be made either way.

At the VAMworld pages for the 1921 varieties, VAM86 is clearly a 17 berry reverse and even says so in the comments. Yet it is listed with the 16 berry reverses. So I reason our target could also be misplaced.
I realize that when this study was in its infancy, it did not take a lot of information to differentiate between a Hot Lips and a Donkey Tail, but things have changed. I know that some would think I always include too many photographs, but it is easier to delete than go back and find a coin that hasn't been seen for 10 years. With the cheap and readily available digital cameras, it's better to include a picture with the description of a scribble scratch. I've killed/revised VAMs that were seriously short of pictures. That problem is easy to avoid.

It's almost certain the OP's coin is a known VAM; there's just not enough detail published to be sure and he'd have to run into someone with a verified example just like his.

The obvious solution to this problem is to send it to JB at VSS and let him determine what VAM it is. I don't know how he would make the determination, but at least we would have a designation and be able to add definitive pictures to the VAM page.
Then, in 5 years when some one says, "Hey, I have the discovery coin, and it doesn't look anything like that," we can quote, "multiple die pairs," or resubmit for a revision.
It may not be the ideal solution, and is a lot like kicking the can down the road, but would give others an opportunity to attribute their coins.

I'll look a little longer then we'll make a decision.

That's messydesk's Variety Slabbing Service for Morgan varieties. Varslab.com.

When I keep banging my head with a VAM messydesk always has the medicine

Ok Chute72.... I got home from work and thought, at my age, it might be a case where I'm just not seeing the scribble scratches so I sat down, got my loupe in some outside lighting and yep, indeed there is scribble scratches. I started with the VAM you attribute it to and there does appear to be scribble scratches in those locations except the ear. But they could be so shallow that I'm just not seeing them. So I think this might open pandora's box as all scribble scratches might be back in play.. Yikes! I don't believe I can pick these up in pictures but this weekend I will try. So it's off to decoding again... Thanks!