1883 Morgan VAM-11a with lots of rust on reverse **Warning Large Image**

Here is a Morgan that I did a GTG on recently. I attributed this as possibly a later die state 11a. But I can't find much on the 11a and was wondering if all 11a's have as much rust on the eagle as this specimen does. The reason I think it's a later die state is that the obverse clash is barely visible except around Liberty's mouth and the faint line at her neck. It almost feels as if it was set aside to fix and someone let it sit a bit too long and the reverse developed the rust. The reverse was then polished up a bit but the rust in the recesses of the die could not be removed. I'd like to get the opinions of the VAMpires around here, especially @messydesk.

 

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I'll summon the "Usual Suspects" @Cascade, @SuperDave, @Dave Waterstraat, @heavycam.monstervam and the fifth has already been summonsed to the station..

 

Yeah, that sure looks like an 11A. There's a PCGS MS62 in the SSDC registry that's peppered just like yours. Cool Morgan!

 

Rust?

 

Yeah, if you click on the image above, you can see the pitting all over the eagle. It caused by a rusted die.

 

Thanks for the info, I just could not make out anything from the plate photo on VAMWorld.

 

If that's what you mean, it is even more evident on the fields around the upper motto.

 

That is what I mean. I see what you are seeing, whomever polished the reverse up did not get the pitting all out. The heaviest is seen on the eagle's wings and in the crook between the eagle's neck and left wing. It almost looks like the eagle has smallpox.

 

Yeah, same here. I could make out the left wing gap and a spot here and there but nothing like yours. The first example I looked at in the registry was not showing much either. The second one was a boom.. The images are personal uploaded so I will not copy any here but,
Here's a link to an HA auction that shows the pitting a little better than the VW plates. https://coins.ha.com/itm/morgan-dol...3=ViewItem-Auction-Archive-ThisAuction-120115

 

That is a really cool rusted die! I can't help at all with VAMs, but....

The most prominent rusted die I own is a Mexican Peso, graded 65PL by NGC. It's cool because, in an attempt to remove the rust, they polished the dies and created the prooflike surface. However, quite a bit of the rust remains:

 

Here is my rusty girl, most prominent in the hair and face.

 

23-B?

 

Ya know, @Dave Waterstraat i did vam it, but ive had this coin for like 5 years. I honestly cant remember which one it was. If i remember, i will look at it tonight when im home and let ya know

Edit:after looking at the 23b page & my coin pix, i believe an oh wow youre good is in order. You vammed it in less than 3 mins!!

 

Only because I have one that I took lots of images of it last year. I'll have to find them and post them here. I do collect 83-O.

 

Here's a few shots of my 1883-O VAM-23B since we're comparing scars...

 

The strike on yers is much sharper than on mine! Im guessing mine was a later state as well. Very interesting to compare the two

 

Yeah, you can't make it out very well in my images but it's actually Semi-PL so a fairly early die state. Here's an image (albeit crummy) of the die scratch below the left wing taken with my USB microscope that better shows the additional die scratches below the wing.

 

Nice rusty dies!!! We may need to start a thread to show off rusty dies.

 

I'm ready. I picked up a bunch of rusty 21's last year.

 

The even pitting all over the devices is rather common for the early 1880s, even on early die states. There's an 1881-O reverse used with six, count 'em, six different obverses. I ended up using a pattern in these pits to verify it was the same reverse die throughout the sequence. With wear, the pits grow larger.