1921S "Thorn Head" VAM-1B1 through VAM-1B7

Leroy Van Allen wrote an excellent article entitled "An Amazing Dollar Die" telling the story of the 1921-S VAM-1B dollar that has 5 distinct die states known as gouges appear and are polished off in multiple places!  This story of these dies was unusual enough to warrant publication in the June 2003 edition of the ANA Numismatist Magazine (page 43).  Since that article appeared, THREE more die states have been found.

The obverse die of the 1921 S Morgan silver dollar variety VAM 1B, Thorn Head series underwent an amazing number of changes... At some point during this obverse die lifetime, it received two large die gouges at the top and back of the Phrygian cap plus two small die gouges. But that was just the beginning of a series of damages on this obverse die at the San Francisco Mint. Subsequent damage of the die added six more deep and large die gouges in the fields plus two more in the denticles. There are now known seven distinct die gouge states of this obverse die with various number and strengths of the twelve die gouges. And to cap it off, the reverse die also shows two significant die gouges with the last two obverse die gouge states!

Click below for pictures of the specific VAM-1B stages:

VAM-1B1: Die Gouge in Cap and back of cap, wheat leaf intact

VAM-1B2: Die Gouge in Cap, wheat leaf intact, back of cap gouge gone

VAM-1B3: Die gouge out of cap top extending right

VAM-1B4: Wheat leaf polished away, gouge in cap, gouges in IB and NU

VAM-1B4A: Same as 1B4 but gouges polished down

VAM-1B5:  Gouge back of cap lower than 1B1, new above BU of PLURIBUS, gouge by 4th left star, VAM-1B4a gouges

VAM-1B6:  Cap gouge only (most common die state)

VAM-1B7:  Die gouge Y of LIBERTY

All the VAM-1B coins share the same characteristic die gouge between the leaf and the cap.  It is visible with the naked eye and is useful when checking a lot of coins while cherry-picking.