How do you determine if an 1830 is a large letter or small letter coin? My edging on the inside rim looks more like the large letter coin, but the font style is hard to judge. The small letter coin edge looks like straight even cuts, while the large letter coin looks more like a serrated edge ( indented and rounded). If my rough calculations are close, the large letter are about 20% larger than the small based on the Red Book pictures. I would appreciate any comments. David
It is hard to see your coin with your pics... could you crop the pic of the reverse to just show the coin? All that extra space is wasted.... However, from what I can see you appear to have the small letters. While Markus' pictograph is great, there are a large number of varieties from the year. Since each letter was hand-punched, each variety will show a different spread between the words. After looking at enough of them, the difference becomes obvious. However, one indication I often look at is the O of "Of". Notice on the Small letters how the interior of the O is more rounded, and the top and bottom are somewhat thick. Compare that to the Large Letters - the top and bottom of the O are comparatively thin, and the angles are more "square." Check the auction archives at Heritage, and if you look at enough coins, you'll see a difference. The Overton book is essential if you are going to start trying to attribute these. You could also check the CoinZip reference here: http://coinzip.proboards.com/board/71/1830
