If the loop on the 9 was pointed at a 4 o'clock it's a large date and if it was more towards a 2 o'clock it's a small date is what I understand. If that's not correct then what is?
On the nine you're looking for two elements. Both involve the upper terminus of the 9. It needs to be fairly sharply pointed, rather than blunt, and its final direction needs to lead NOT to the mintmark, but to the 7 next door. The 9 on your photos could be a howitzer intended to blow the S to smithereens.
Also the 0 in the date is "taller" than the 7. The top of the 0 is above the horizontal bar of the 7.
I REALLY hate that diagnostic. I never use it any more. I have high 7's that are LD and low 7's that are SD.
Did you see the post last Sunday in coin roll hunting by Dagwood 177. I thought his was a small date according to the point on the "9" but he got 2 hits for Large date.
Interesting, I usually look at the 9 and the 0, most often the 0. I wonder how many small dates I have missed,
It IS a helping diagnostic, just not a dispositive one. The "delta Y" of the 7 needs to AT LEAST be very small. Any huge differences can be eliminated.
By golly, yes it is .... a closer look. Still a LD though. But please do NOT feel bad. The ABSOLUTE MAJORITY of albums I have looked at, and I get to see them by the ton, have a LD 70-S in the SD 70-S hole. More wrong than right, and most of the owners consider themselves pretty good.
