1896-P Morgan.vam Help Needed

I beleive the other doubling is just mechanical and if it is shifted left and low (which I am positive its low) then I would be pretty positive to give it a VAM-16 attribution. there is no question on wether its low because that is the lowest date I have ever seen and from reading the book it clearly states the VAM-16 is the lowest date in the morgan series and I can see why, if it were any lower it would be on the rim

I was hoping maybe superdave or morganfred would jump in here and help with the attribution but I am going to stick with the VAM-16 unles they can convince me otherwise lol

Edit: the book is the Comprehensive catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace dollars By Leroy C. Van Allen & George Mallis (the names VAM comes from)

My money for that coin is on VAM-6 with Machine Doubling. The lower doubling looks like the shelving which is characteristic of Machine Doubling.

The thin line over the 6 extends too far forward for the VAM-10, and I think (although the pictures aren't definingly clear) that the date is too high to be "low." Look for the little spike over the lower loop of the 6.

The die crack on the reverse is interesting (especially to me ), but not definitive of a specific VAM. I suspect you would have no problem doing a date/mint set of Morgans requiring each to have a die crack.

The polished details, however, are intriguing. Somebody went over that die with real motivation. Perhaps you might want to go over the obverse closely, looking to see of the almost-usual polishing lines around the bolls and LIBERTY are there - if they'd polished the die heavily enough to make hair detail go away, perhaps the usual polishing lines are gone to.

Do you have the capability to examine the coin at greater magnification?

OMG! SuperDave!!! You're RIGHT! There are polish lines by the boles. Even more so, the RTY of Liberty has some VERY definite characteristics of having been polished. The base serifs of the TY have been polished so much that they are worn down.

In Bryan's defense, I do have to say that the date is low and more to the left than other Morgans that we have had. This is a good find...we thought it looked nice because of the strange toning...but this is MUCH BETTER!!!

Now if we can all only agree on the VAM...LOL

The pics were a little out-of-focus for me to be at all sure about the date location - that's why I asked about the spike over the lower loop of the 6, which is characteristic of VAM-6. I couls believe VAM-10 as easily, but the doubling on the 6 looks more like VAM-6.

My only 1896-P, a VAM-12, has the same missing details behind the ear. I wonder if that's characteristic of the master die.