I did some research on the differences between the two coins. One site I went to states that one difference was the berries in the wreath (16 on Chapman vs. 17 in Zerbe). I know the condition of the coin is not great, It has been in a lock box for 25+ years, just wanted opinions on what this is, Chapman, Zerbe, neither? Thanks for the input b
Chapman and Zerbe Morgans are both proof coins, this one is not. I'd call it a VF-35, and given the condition, put the value slightly above melt value.
Are you from the New Orleans area by chance? I went to school with three different guys named Brad Harris.
The 21 p has two different reverses to identify the die pairing VAM. I hope this helps, http://www.vamworld.com/1921-P+VAMs
Only the Chapman Morgan is really considered a proof. The Zerbe Morgans are usually referred to as proof-like- they were struck on circulation strike planchets. +Only the Zerbe bear the San Fransisco mint mark. The story states that Farran Zerbe was visiting the San Fransisco mint in order to see the first striking of Peace dollars. Unfortunately, the dies shipped from Philadelphia were the 1921 Morgan dollar. They polished up some of these dies to mint some coins for Zerbe. Thus, there are early business strike coins which show the same die markers as the coins considered proof-like for this variety. So, basically, with the San Fransisco Zerbe proof, the only thing that separates it's from it's common brothers is that the dies were given a little bit of extra love giving it a bolder appearance.
The 16 vs. 17 berries on the wreath is a difference in the reverse hub. The earlier reverse, which accounts for about 20-25% of the 1921-P Morgans, has 17 berries. The Zerbe "proofs" were made from a reverse die having 17 berries (VAM 1AG). They are assuredly not proofs, however, merely really nice PL business strikes that seemed to have been cherrypicked for quality, as they all have a special look to them. The Chapman proofs are also from the 17 berry reverse hub.
