Hey all, Is it just me, or does the 4 on this wheat penny look.... unusually short? Is there something about the 1949 pennies I've missed? All the other fours on my wheats have an obviously longer stem to the four. Thanks!!!!
Yeah, I believe that is normal. Looks short because it got squished to the left with changed the proportions. All damage.
To me, I think that the 9s are just making the 4 look smaller. Compare it to the 1 and they are the same size. The long tail on the 9s cause an optical illusion, IMO.
Compare the length of the "4" to the length of the "1". They look the same. The only reason the "4" looks odd is because it has flattened while in circulation.
The horizontal bar of the four got wider with circulation wear, the stem looks shorter due to the overlap from the bar above it. Shorter from top down.