Hi, New at coin collecting. New at 'attempting' to understand the lingo, all this MS-##, and RPM, AU, etc. is very confusing. What is more confusing is trying to establish what coin may have an error and what one doesn't. I just got my hands on a 10X eye piece magnifier so now I can have a better look. My question is, can and will somebody kindly post pics of pennies that have this "AM" Wide and "AM" Close errors alongside a 'normal' cent for me to see and believe and visually understand a somewhat notable difference between the 2? Cause either I'm seeing things I'm imagining or I just don't get it! :desk:
I have checked many websites and some threads here on CT I would like to see a common, errorless cent alongside an "AM" cent. When I'm back on my PC and not mobile I will also follow the links provided Thanks Lara4228
I think you may be a little confused. The reason the Wide AM and Close AM is because they are the wrong reverses on the coin for those particular years. If you have a handful of cents with older and newer dates, you can compare the two yourself. You'll see the difference right away. (the reason for the differences are a little more complicated than this but this way you can compare the wide to the close.)
I've checked out the sites, looked again at a couple of coins and according to my very very untrained eye, they almost all seem to fall into one of those categories. Hence why I asked someone to post pics of a normal, wide and close AM. Now I am really dazed and confused! :lol:
Both wide and close are normal. It depends on what date they are on. The 1992 should have the wide AM which is what all the cents dated 1959-1992 have. But if it instead has the close AM then it is the error.
Just to muddle things further :} Wide AM's and Close Am's are not errors. they are varieties. An error occurs on only a small portion of the coins from a die set and a variety will occur on all the coins from that die pair. Richard
Normal = Close AM for a Business Strike where the A and M almost touch. Normal = Wide AM for a Proof Coin where the A and M have a noticeable gap between then Error = Close AM on a Proof Coin since the Clase AM was the intended design for the Business Strike Error = Wide AM on a Business Strike coin since the intended design was for a Proof coin. Pick you years for what should be Wide and what should be close as the US Mint changed with each die revision. The bottom line is that on "some" business strike coins, a proof die was used for the reverses. Exactly the same scenario with the 1972 Type 2 Eisenhower and the 1956-1972 Type B Washington Quarters. Eventually, you will figure out the differences.
Thank you Richard! Boy do I ever feel stupid. Maybe that was why I was so confused in the beginning, I wasn't comprehending the whole darn AM business right the first few times lol OK, I *think* I got it now...now I need to redefine what my eye has been trying to strain to see...augh! They all look the same to me, even using a 10X. I think I need to invest in a better magnifier to help me out. Thank you all. lara4228
This may help too. It's actually easier for me to see the difference in them in the spacing between the M and the E versus the A and the M. Also another way to ID them is the distance of the designers initials from the memorial (red arrows). Notice the initials are further away from the memorial base on the close AM's.
D T Menace....That ROCKS! That is the kind of pic I was hoping for as visual reference guide. Thank you! Now I can definitely piece together all the info with the pics. I think I can officially call this question/thread closed!
Lara maybe this info. make it easier for you to understand. The wide and close AM has nothing to do with how wide or narrow the letters are. It has all to do with how close or far apart the A and M are to each other. the close AM will look like this AM the wide am will look like A M also like someone told you earlier you can look at any cent coin between 1959 and 1992 and they will have the wide A M and in 1993 the mint changed the design and started using the close AM from then to now . so if you find a regular issue cent with a wide A M that was made in 1993 or later it is a keeper. also if you could find a 1992 cent with a close AM then you have struck gold.
