1878 8TF $1 VAM 9 First Die Pair, CAM (Special Strike)

Experts consider the 1878 VAM 9 to be the very first die pair used to strike Morgan Dollars, based on identification of a presentation piece once owned by President Rutherford B. Hayes. The reverse is distinctive due to an odd-shaped, diagnostic feather on the right side (viewer's side) of the eagle. The first ten or twelve examples (sources differ on the exact number) were struck from fresh dies on polished planchets. The resulting appearance is somehwere between a Deep Mirror Prooflike and a Proof. Two such examples were once owned by Leroy Van Allen, one of the authors of the popular VAM reference book. President Hayes' coin is held by the Rutherford B. Hayes Museum in Fremont, OH; unfortunately, that example has been described as having been polished multiple times. However, it was that very coin that proved the VAM 9 combination was the first die pair used to strike Morgan Dollars. Rarely do researchers have the opportunity to identify the exact date and time that a particular coin was struck.