Infrequent Reeding on 1921 Morgans from Philly?

[WoodenJefferson]

INFREQUENT REEDING (157 reeds instead of the usual 189) is seen on the middle coin in this group of 1921 Morgan silver dollars from the Philadelphia Mint.

 

Does anyone know anything more obout this oddity? First I see or hear of this one.

[rbrown4]

I had never run across that one either. Looking it up it appears to be a VAM 4 and is also identified by a doubling of the n in the motto In God We Trust.

 

Interesting one Woody, thanks for the lesson.

 

Rey

[cpm9ball]

According to the VAM Encyclopedia. there are at least 7 different obverse/reverse die combinations with the infrequently reeded edge, so it is not very scarce. One of the more notable is the VAM4 and it has the "N" of IGWT on the reverse repunched with strong doubling. In the Red Book of Morgan Dollars by Q. David Bowers, he suggests that a helpful hint when checking for infrequent reeding is to count the berries on the wreath on the reverse. The infrequent reeding doesn't exist on the 16-berry wreath but does on the 17-berry wreath.

 

Chris

[Conder101]

Question, since this edge only occurs with the Philadelphia dollar and it is obviously the result of a collar that doesn't match the rest of those used on the Morgans, has anyone ever made a comparison of this edge with the collars used on the 1921 Peace dollars? Is there a chance that this could be a Peace dollar collar? If it matches it would explain why this one "non-standard" collar was made.

[DWLange]

I believe the 157-reed collar or collars were left over from the Philippines coinage that Philadelphia and San Francisco struck 1903-06. The original dimensions for the Philippine peso were identical to those of standard silver dollars, but their reeding was broader and fewer in number.

 

When the diameter of the peso had to be abruptly reduced in 1907, due to a rising silver price, it's likely that a number of unused collars remained on hand. Perhaps, during the urgency of replacing the silver dollars melted under the Pittman Act, the Philadelphia Mint retrieved one or more such collars. Whether this was done deliberately or by accident is unknown.

 

As a note of caution, I haven't actually compared the pesos with the 157-reed Morgans, so this is speculative until someone does that. I've had this theory for years, but it is one of those many little research projects that just keep getting postponed.

[MorganMan]

That photo makes me realize one thing. I do not need to look for berry counts or other things. Just stack em up, the infrequent reeding will stick out like a sore thumb....

 

MM

[cpm9ball]

That photo makes me realize one thing. I do not need to look for berry counts or other things. Just stack em up, the infrequent reeding will stick out like a sore thumb....

 

MM (thumbs u

 

The "Extra Berry" is also a VAM.

 

Chris

[Conder101]

Interesting theory and it sound like it might be a good one. If they did use a Philippines collar then its retention probably was accidental. If they destroyed the Morgan hubs after 1904 then they presumably scrapped the collars as well since they didn't use them on the 1903-06 Philippines Pesos. Then after the downsizing of the Peso in 1907 I can't see why they would keep those old collars either. So if it is a Peso collar its survival for another 14 years was probably not intentional. (Unless the mint struck another coin of the same size for another country.)

 

So we have two theories now, all we need is for someone to test them.

[SuperDave]

On page 126 of the Encyclopedia, it's mentioned in passing that Peace Dollars and Ikes both had only 189 reeds. I only own a few Peace Dollars, and all seem to support that statement. I have a few Infrequent Reeding 1921's, and I'm going to acquire a 1903-1906 Philadelphia Peso to do a photographic comparison.

[RWB]

Dave,

How did this work out?