1970-s Small Date Lincoln

JohnsCoins

Dose anyony have an easy way to identify the 1970-s sm date. I have a BU roll that is labeled 1970-s small date and am not certain about them. I have tried to line up the tops of the date and looked at the Liberty. Liberty seems weak near the end but not as weak as shown in the cherrypickers guide. The guide picture is of a proof coin and mine are not.

Any ioformation would be a help.

John

MadMarty

Here is a picture of one, but again it's a proof.

dddangerousdan

try this site.

DAN

Shamika

If you can show us a scan, we'll give you an opinion.

DRG

The easiest way to tell the difference is to look at "Liberty". It is very weak on all of the small date coins and quite bold on the large date. Once you have seen one you will not mistake them again. Trying to look at the level of the seven is very difficult in my oppinion.

TWQG

The shape of the nine and the height of the seven is what I find easiest

cladking

The easiest way for me to spot the small date is the bottom of the loop
of the "9". It is curled up to be nearly horizontal on the small date and
points down toward the mint mark on the large date. This diagnostic
works better on the unc but you'll still need both types to see it the first
time.

segoja

The weak liberty is the best diagnostic. Both the proof and MS versions are similar.

The pictures on the other website are very helpful!

cladking

<< <i>The weak liberty is the best diagnostic. Both the proof and MS versions are similar.

>>



The weak LIBERTY is certainly the fastest way to separate them, but you'll miss
about 2% of the small dates in mint sets. You might also get a few large dates.

It may work much better for proof coins but I don't have the experience to tell.

JohnsCoins

Thanks for all the information. I would post a picture if I knew how. I have never been able to figure it out. I need to see 1 of each type I guess before I will know.

Thanks
John

coppercoins

<< <i>It may work much better for proof coins but I don't have the experience to tell. >>



Actually it doesn't work as well with the proofs because the details are rather sharp for both...the small date is still weaker, but its sharpness usually requires a side by side comparison without a lot of experience.

It has been mentioned above, the absolute best diagnostic, and an unmistakable one, is the shape of the 9 in the date.