I just received my 1884 O Morgan. Can someone tell me what this line is in the letters? Die crack? Possibly a VAM? Sorry for the simple question, but I'm trying to learn! Thanks!
Hi, welcome to CT. All Morgan and Peace dollars have a VAM attribution, It is the study of die pairings, die states etc. You can look here to try to find yours. Your coin has a die crack or scratch in the portion you have shown. http://vamworld.com/wiki/1884-O_VAMs
The coin also shows clash marks, hard to tell what VAM with full obverse and reverse pics. Great advice from "expat"! post a full obverse and reverse on VAMWorld and they help you out......again, be careful, VAMMING is very addictive I've circled the clash mark in your pic. (good pic by the way!)
Thanks for the advice, guys! Jay-Ar, good eye! I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. I'll try to get full pics of it.
It's a die crack. Very common in Morgan Dollars. It also has a nice die clash under the Eagles wing. Welcome to CT.
I haven't check the VAM pages yet, but here's a couple things to look at....1st it appears to be a Far Date and there are clash marks on the obverse, still looking for letter transfer. I circled the areas to look at...some of the cracks might have some displace metal. I circled those areas as well....Have fun, when I get some time I'll see if I can put you on the right track for the VAM
Check out VAM 37A2 http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/1884-O_VAM-37A2 I think this is the one! Nice find! The break from rim thru U is key!