Leroy Van Allen Morgan Varieties

By Heritage Auctions

Heritage will be offering a spectacular variety of coins from the collection of Leroy Van Allen at the April 16-18CSNS Signature Auction in Rosemont, IL. The selection from Van Allen’s personal collection of Morgan & Peace dollar varieties, plus errors, represents, “Some of the rarest, most historic Morgan silver dollars known and should be considered national treasures,” according to silver dollar specialist Michael S. Fey.

Perhaps the most unusual offering from the Van Allen collection is a certified “Presentation Piece,” one of the first twelve Morgan dollars struck on March 11, 1878 (VAM-9), accompanied by a handwritten certification by Walter Breen. Also included are spectacular examples of some of the best known Morgan varieties, including the “Hot Lips” 1888-O Doubled Die Obverse dollar in DMPL, an uncirculated 1888-O “Scarface” in late die state, and many other Top 100 Morgan dollar varieties.

As is quickly learned by even novice collectors, VAM is the acronym for Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis, who were first to comprehensively catalog Morgan and Peace Dollar varieties, assigning VAM numbers to each die pair.

Selections from The Leroy Van Allen collection include:
1878 8TF $1 VAM-14.7 “Flake on Ear” MS62 Prooflike PCGS. 1878 8TF $1 VAM-9 Presentation Piece MS62 Deep Mirror Prooflike ANACS. 1880 $1 8/7 VAM-6 “Spikes” MS64 PCGS. 1880 $1 8/7 VAM-7 “Crossbar” AU50 PCGS. 1884 $1 VAM-4 “Small Dot” MS64 PCGS. 1888-O $1 VAM-1B “Scarface” Die Break Obverse MS62 PCGS. 1888-O $1 VAM-4 “Hot Lips” Doubled Die Obverse AU55 PCGS. 1888-O $1 VAM-4 “Hot Lips” Doubled Die Obverse MS60 Deep Mirror Prooflike PCGS. 1891-CC $1–Partial Collar Strike–MS64 PCGS. 1903-S $1 VAM-2 Micro S XF40 PCGS. 1922 $1 VAM-2A “Earring” MS64 PCGS.