Ok, it should be simple enough, the text of my coin book says that there are two main variations, Small and a Large letter designs. To quote the Yeoman Guide, "In the Large Letters design, the A and M in AMERICA are Joined, while in the Small Letters design they are separated..." These illustrations should be sufficient to see the differences, but my old eyes just aren't working properly. Do YOU see the differences in the two varieties (from the very same source)? I really can't tell. I am having a very hard time with nearly all of the ebay coins on line at the moment it is almost impossible to identify which is which from the photos provided. The third of these photos is of a specimen I bought last week. The seller did not specify whether is was SL or LL, but the price was cheap.
The first photo is good (and of the small lettering type). The second photo isn't good, but it's definitely of a different variety with larger lettering and the A and M closer together (if not touching). The third photo is good but the lettering is damaged so you can't judge the distance. It looks like larger lettering.
your is the large letter variety. I also use the F, on the small letters variety it's closer to the wingtip of the eagle than it is on the Large date. Also, the top right edge of the F of "of" ends between denticles on the large letter variety, while on the small letter variety it ends on a denticle. The last A in America is also closer to the tail feathers on the Large letters variety. I'm not an expert here,but believe I have it well pegged, always room ofr 2nd and 3rd opinions of course! in your picture, the A and M should have feet that wore off the letters, but if they were there, it would clearly be next to near touching. either way I think they were similarly minted and neither is rarer or mover valuable than the other. I like the obverse, looks nice enough sir!
There are more varieties than this...you may already know. There is a 1857/Obverse of 1856 variety and there are high leaf/low leaf reverse varieties in 1858...to name a few.
Thanks for such precision, but I would be lying if I said that I could see those differences in the positions of the F relative to the eagle you describe so well.
