1878 $1 Morgan Dollar 8TF VAM-9 - 1-St 303 Morgan Dollars Struck With 1-St Die Pair On March 11, 1878

Sure looks nicer than an XF-45.

I find this quote from VAMWorld interesting. I have always seen the news story paraphrased. but haven't seen a photo or screen capture of the story itself.

Just a couple thoughts to spur discussion here. I don't have any answers.

As numismatists, we have a fairly specific thing in mind when we refer to a "die" or "dies" and another specific thing in mind when we say that a die or dies "failed." To a reporter in 1878 who may never have seen a coining press before covering the striking ceremony, those words may have had a different meaning.

We know that the dies clashed. That's where 1878 VAM-9A comes into play. If the reverse die "failed" as we would refer to the event, one of two things should be true. Either we should see die cracks on the VAM-9A reverse, suggesting a progressive failure, or there would have been a sudden, catastrophic die failure. Does anyone have a VAM-9A showing significant reverse die cracks? A catastrophic failure definitely is possible, and could support the idea that only 303 coins (or acceptable coins) were struck from the first die pair.

On the other hand, what if the reporter referred to a breakdown of the coining press itself as "the die failed"? If there was a press failure, the logical next step would have been to end the ceremonial striking, and move production to another coining press (maybe the next day since it was already late in the afternoon) and continue striking dollars until the first press could be repaired. Again, if the reporter was not familiar with the mechanics of the minting process, "new ones" could refer to an entire coining press, obviously with different dies. If this is what occurred, we would expect the first die pair to continue in use once the first coining press was repaired. This could support the idea that more than 303 coins were struck from the first die pair, just not on the first day. What calls this into question is the relative scarcity of 1878 VAM-9A coins. If the die pair continued in use, either the dies would have been polished to reduce evidence of the clashing or there would be more VAM-9A examples. I haven't seen any VAM-9 or VAM-9A coins with significant additional die polishing. The clashes on VAM-9A are weak, though, and could have worn down on their own with continued die use.

Just some pondering here. No "hot takes" or strong opinions.

Seems to me that if the reverse die failed after 303-350 impressions, the die was essentially new and the stress cracks that you would normally see due to overuse would not be present. The more likely reason for the die's failure would be that the press was not set up correctly or the dies were mis-calibrated creating a catastrophic mishap for that die. This also seems more likely as it was the first minting experience for this new design.

A 1878 8TF VAM-9 die study is exactly what Leroy Van Allen (the 'VA' in ' VAM') did when he studied the Hayes coin at his Presidential Library in Ohio and Van Allen also owned at least two early impressions on the VAM-9. Both were graded by ANACS and one was 64DMPL and the other 62DMPL. He studied these coins extensively for die attributes and published his work in 1980, identifying the first Morgan dollar die pair. The 2 coins in his collection were sold by Heritage in 2009. @Bump111, if you are looking to examine the VAM-9 for die characteristics, HA has excellent images online.

1. https://coins.ha.com/itm/morgan-dol...ption-071515

2. https://coins.ha.com/itm/morgan-dol...ption-071515

Maybe a refresh of his study could be undertaken again by an ambitious numismatist. There are thousands of VAM varieties and the list is ever expanding. However, to date there is no other known 1878 8TF die pair with the A1h reverse, suggesting that the failure was terminal for that die. Maybe another die pair with this reverse appears some day, but 45 years later, the reported story that a die failed, ending the first day run of VAM-9 and 9A coins seems to hold up as reported.