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A Closer Look: The GSA 1882 Carson City Morgan Dollar Off Center
by Dave Camire - Exclusive to Mint Error News
There is more than meets the eye when looking at the 1882-CC off-center GSA Morgan dollar. Upon closer inspection some interesting facts are revealed!
First, the planchet that the coin was struck on still shows signs of roller marks on the unstruck portion. This area is highlighted in photo 1. They are fairly light and not visible on the struck portion of the coin.
Photo 1
Next, both the obverse and reverse dies show multiple clash marks. A clash occurs when a malfunction of the feeder operation prevents a planchet from entering the coining chamber. This results in the two dies coming together and striking each other. Depending on the spacing of the dies and the tonnage used to strike the coin, the damage to the dies can vary from minor to catastrophic. In this case, the marks are "typical" of those seen on Morgan dollars (Photos 2-8). These clash marks along with other die markers, like the die lines behind the eagles head (Photo 9) and the placement of the mint mark (Photo 10), help to establish the VAM variety for this coin which is attributed to VAM-3A.
