1885O Morgan What are these lines.....

[SteveInNebr]

Just picked this up recently.....1885O NGC MS63

The reverse has cracks/breaks(?)... N-T in UNITED....T-E in STATES....O-R in IGWT....The mint mark looks really strange and the D in DOLLAR is pretty weak....Would any of this constitute a VAM designation?...I know little about such things...

 

[MunkyMan95]

There is nothing needed to "constitute" a VAM for a particular coin. All morgan and peace dollars are VAMs, it's just a matter of figuring out which one it is.

 

That said, check out www.VAMworld.com to see if you can find one for this coin.

[bsshog40]

For those that appreciate them Steve, those are very nice looking Die Cracks!

[Oldtrader3]

Your '85-O Morgan is nice for the grade. I am not a VAM person so I can not comment on that but the coin is pretty well struck for an "O" mint Morgan and is very clean for the grade also. The '85-O Morgans that I have seen and owned are mostly poorly struck and yours is better than most for that date, MM. The fields are pretty clean also. Nice coin.

[SteveInNebr]

Any thoughts about the mint mark and the 'D' underneath it?...the mint mark looks really weird....

[Oldtrader3]

The "O" mint mark and the "D" beneath it both look poorly struck but look fine other than that. I have seen other 1880's era "O" mint dollars which had weakly struck "O"'s and looked just as bad. Pull up some images on your computer and you will find some that are weak like yours. The New Orleans mint was noted for getting worn dies and not punching the "O" into the dies well or oriented properly. I have see others with wavy "O"s like yours as well, probably from improperly hardened punches.

 

Your coin looks as though the "O" has been hit by another coin as well because there is a ding in the middle of the letter.