I am working on a set of Indian head cents to fill a Whitman folder. I only need about five more, and the cheapest of the remaining ones is the 1864 L. I'm not buying high grade cents, more economy pieces. Because of that, in the ones I look at, you can't see the L anymore. But everyone claims there are other design differences so you can still tell them apart. I have stared at the two varieties side by side for several minutes and I just can't see it with any degree of reliability. I don't want to buy a coin just taking someone's word that it's the L variety because we all know how many times things are incorrectly advertised. I know many of you are used to looking for minute differences in detail, but I'm not and I am having a lot of trouble telling them apart. Can anyone tell me specifically what parts of the coin to look at and what's different about it?
From Eagle-eye , Rick Snow site. Bronze cents. Notice the rounded tip of the bust compared to the second one below. Click on photo for high resolution. http://www.indiancent.com/3180-1864-no-l-snow-4-ms-64rb-pcgs-ps.html Here is the pointed tip bust of the "L" variety http://www.indiancent.com/3839-1864-with-l-ms-64rd-pcgs.html
Also, in coop's pic, notice how the bust comes down in a point. Now look at the bust in 1863 Indian Head cents - and notice how distinctly rounded it is. The bust of the 1864's come in both pointy (with L) and rounded (no L). You can occasionally find low grade 1864 'with L' sold as 'no L' on Ebay.
When you talk about the bust "coming down in a point," do you mean at the bottom, or neck, area? It looks to me like the L variety has a little more space between the date and the neck point. Is that something to look for?
The neck. Notice how the truncation of the neck is pointed on the 1864 'L' IHC and rounded on the 'No L' varieties. No. The date was hand-punched into the dies so the location varies.
I looked at Snow's book to see if he said anything about at what grade the "L" disappeared. Didn't find any such comment. So I looked at Breen's encyclopedia and he indicated the "L" is gone on coins in G and VG. So it looks like you should consider a coin graded F or better. Probably would cost close to $150.
