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.
I'm running into the same question. Is this also the large S variety? I'm seeing the bulb/bulge on the bottom of the S. And, does anyone know of the relative scarcity of the two?
As I continue to putaway some recent acquisitions, I was surprised to find that multiple sized mint marks occured at Denver & SanFran almost a decade apart: I haven't been able to find a side by side pic of the 1934-D big vs. small varieties. Anyone happen to have one handy?