Found this in my change today. At first I was sure, but I'm not certain. Opinions please..... Sorry about photo quality. Taken with iPhone.
On the close AM there is no space at all between the bottom of the A and M. they look as if they are touching at the bottom and the distance between the M and E in AMERICA is much greater on the close AM coins.get used to looking at the distance between the M and E and this will help.
"Don't just look at the space between the A and M. *As dies deteriorate, they spread. **The die may spread far enough to create what appears to be a small space between the A and M." Taken from lincolncentresource.com
Those dies aren't deteriorated. Buy a good 15x loupe and you'll never mistaken a WAM for a CAM or vice versa again.
You sure are right , that is why I said to also look at the distance between the M and E all of the cent coins before 92 are the wide AM type and after 93 the regular ones are the close type AM. get a bunch of them and study them for a while and before long it will become more easier to tell the difference between them.
Strike and die differences will render this unreliable Late 1980's cents are quite prone to die deterioration, especially on the reverse, and it's quite easy to distinguish them from other dates. Get a ton of 1991's, a ton of 1994's, and mix them all up. Flip them all tails up and sort them out. Repeat until you have it down. I can spot WAM's as soon as I flip the coin over now, they're clearly different. Haven't had the pleasure of finding a CAM yet. Someday...
Take any 1993 or later memorial cent and compare the AM distance and the distance of the FG from the building. It helps to remember this: Wide AM = Close FG Close AM = Far FG
