Anybody ever notice the '73 cent uses a different 7 than the other cents in that decade? It uses the old 7, unlike the 70-72s, or the 74s & up. I wonder what happened there.
It was due to a hub design change. 1970-1972 Obverse revised, higher relief portrait Virtually identical to the above, but appears to be higher relief to me. Not noted in reference books, excepting the 1970-S high vs low 7. Note how some collectors use the low relief of the lettering as diagnostic for the 1970-S high 7 (not reliable, since an overpolished low 7 die will also have low relief lettering) 1973 Obv & Rev revised, FG larger 1974-1982 Obv? & rev revised, FG smaller 1982-1985 Zinc, with revised obverse Color changes to pink-red. Full red bronze vs copper-coated zinc cents are very obviously different colors when viewed under a good light source. All of the combinations of die changes and planchet changes exist.
Hey thanks Doug. This is some kind of detail you provide. So there was a rhyme or reason to this. Just one comment on those '70-'72s, your observation is the same as mine, they're close, but still not quite the '73s. Look at the '67s and '57s...they're like the '73s. And the '74s and up, they're a little different than these two still.
You're more than welcome Eddiie, but those are not my observations. I was merley posting the info you needed to answer your question The credit goes to Mike Locke who has thankfully provided a web page with all the hub design changes for US 20th century minor coinage. You can of course find a link to that page in the Numismatic Resources section
OK, you made me do a little digging, but, sure enough, the link is there...in the U.S. Coins, uh, "Miscellaneous Links" section. All kidding aside, though, IMHO, very interesting little resource.
That was my intention Eddie, to get you to do a little digging - and you did :high5: Give a man a fish - and he'll eat for one night. Teach a man to fish - and he'll eat for the rest of his life
Made me go look up that info in my favorite book from coppercoins.com. However, no mention of a different 7 which is odd since that book usually covers all those things. What is interesting though it statesin that book that the 3 also is different and is the only time this 3 was ever used. Also, of interest is the fact that this year had a new reverse master hub crated and the desiner's initials were more that 2 times normal size.
Look on the '67s and '57s (probably even earlier than those, too), that's the style of 7 that's used. Hey, the experts are only human, and sometimes they miss things (and that's what we're here for ). Didn't know about those 3s, that's very interesting. I'll have to check those out with my 10x when I get some time. Just note, that's referenced in the link Doug supplied ("1973 Obv & Rev revised, FG larger"). Hey, gotsta go..thanks for this info.
