The word in the parathesis at the end... HA! get it!? seriously, are you talking about the large date and small date?
Here is a comparison from "Looking Through Lincoln Cents" by Charles Daughtrey I suppose I should add the small date is on top.
I look for the notch in the 7 whare the vertical and horizontal bars meet in the small date. large date small date
Does anyone else but me feel that looking for microscopic differences in coins and attributing enormous [in some cases] value to them is carrying things a bit too far? I can understand date and mintmark collectors, although I'm more of a natural type collector by personality, but getting excited over things like this always baffled me. I'm not saying I'm right, just wondering what people think.
With the '60 small/large date it's a little tougher - you almost need to see them side by side to tell the difference. There are subtle differences in the 9 though. But with the 70 small/large date it's easier. With the 70 small date - the 7 is high, the top of it is even with the top of the 9 & 0. With the large date the top of the 7 is lower than the top of the 9 & 0. Now - does it matter ? Well doe sit matter that one coin has this mint mark or that mint mark ? Does it matter that one has a date of 1941 or a date of 1942 with the 2 on top of a 1 ? Does it matter that one coin has a date of 1955 or a date of 1955 on top of another 1955 ? These are all small differences - but yet there are many collectors who feel these small differences matter a great deal. To me it doesn't matter if it matters or not. It matters to them - and that's all that counts. And if it doesn't to you - then that's OK too
I guess I originally asked about the 1970-S penny because I have a couple of uncirculated rolls that are labelled "unsearched for high/low". I haven't bothered to search them because a coin dealer told me that the only small dates he's ever seen were on proof coins(or was it large dates?). I also couldn't tell the difference between L/S because the difference is so slight. Here is a little test. You tell me which type this coin is:
It's a large date - the 7 is lower. And yes the '70-S small date is only found on Proof coins. The '60 large/small date can be found on both Proof and business strikes. There is also an '82 large/small date.
Wow Doug, I completely disagree about which is more challenging to see. I have loads of difficulty with the 70's and no trouble with the 60's. the key to the 60 SD/LD is the shape of the 6. On the LD bottom curl of the 6 points to the middle of the back of the 6 and on the SD it points much higher on the upright part of the 6. BTW, I agree with your id of the 70S above as a low 7 (LD).
Well it does matter, if you are buying the proof and mint sets.Since the price is multiples of one from the other. But in my opinion, I relly have no opinion other than buying the 60 proof set and 70 mint set( which i need both 4 my complete proof and mint sets) Claw
