Thread: 1942-S Walking Liberty Half Large "S" vs. Small "S"

Hi folks,

I have looked everywhere for information on the 1942-S Walking Liberty Half large "S" vs. small "S" varieties, but can't find any side-by-side comparison photos so that I can determine what it is that I have. Can you tell from my photo what size mint mark it has? NGC has a photo of the large "S" variety, but without anything to compare it to, it's hard to make a determination. Many thanks!

Check out Heritage images.

Small S

http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1144&lotNo=4261

http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=434&lotNo=3051


Large S

http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1169&lotNo=4774

http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1169&lotNo=10150


Given those pics, I'd say your coin is a large S.

Someone can correct me on this, but in looking at the pics the Small S has a trumpet serif on the bottom of the S, while the Large S has a bulbous serif on the bottom of the S.

Your coin has a bulbous serif.

Thanks for the info. I should have thought of using Heritage pics as a point of reference. Upon reviewing the "small s" pics, I noticed a significant difference in the distance the right-side curve of the "s" was from the device. I definitely don't have a "trumpet tail s" which Heritage notes is "one of three mintmark styles" (I only knew of the two). A plain ol' Large "s" it is! Thanks.

Could be wrong, but I don't think placement is near as important because the mm were punched in by hand. So placement is bound to vary some.