What's the Difference? ANSWER POSTED

RKKay

No two of these coins are alike (not counting grade or grading service). What's the difference?

Placid

Middle ones large motto, the bottom not sure if it's large or small.

Barry

Large motto, large motto proof, small motto.

RKKay

Keep guessing. All are struck with the same obverse dies.

Edited to add: And, believe it or not, they're all proof.

airplanenut

Different compositions of metal for the planchet

ColonialCoinUnion

RD, RB, BN

RKKay

Ding. Ding. Ding. Jeremy got it: The first is a large motto (bronze). The second is a J-370 (pure copper). The third is J-371 (copper-nickel: about 88-12).

MrEureka

I'm intrigued by the copper vs. bronze. Yes, there's no question that both types exist. But WHY?

Possible reasons:

1. Copper is softer. Therefore, maybe the copper strikes are true "die trials".

2. The more variations issued, the more coins could be sold to contemporary collectors. Then again, would 19th century collectors really care about the subtle difference between copper and bronze? (Yes, I understand that the color difference is most obvious on newly struck full red coins, but it's still pretty subtle.)

3. Whoever prepared that batch of planchets forgot or didn't bother to alloy the copper. If it was a small batch to be used for patterns and proofs, he might have figured that it just wasn't worth the effort to prepare "proper" planchets.

My money is on #3.