1858 Flying Eagle Cent

tuni88 · June 22, 2004 5:22AM

How does one distinguish between the SMALL and LARGE letter varieties of this coin?

Also, are all other flying eagles, e.g., the 1857, SMALL or LARGE?

rlawsha · June 22, 2004 5:30AM

Look at the distance between the letters "A" and "M" in AMERICA. Once you see a couple of examples it will be clear. In the large letter letter version they appear to almost touch.

mdwoods · June 22, 2004 5:35AM

Thanks for the thread and the info. I've wondered that myself.

coinguy1 · June 22, 2004 5:37AM

Large Letters (see how the bases of the "A" and "M" in "AMERICA" appear to touch?):

Small Letters (note the space between the bases of the "A" and "M")

ss350camaro · June 22, 2004 5:41AM

Great pics Mark. Thanks ! I've had the same question but hadn't gotten around to inquiring yet.

coinguy1 · June 22, 2004 5:59AM

Thank Heritage.

And, I mean that sincerely - their site is a great (free) resource!

tuni88 · June 23, 2004 9:34AM

You sure of that? A couple other sources told me the SMALL letter variety touches. Your answer makes the most sense, however, because one would think larger letters would be more likely to run into each other than small letters.

Excellent photos BTW.

And on the 1856 and 1857 are they all SMALL or LARGE variety?

Thanx!!

nwcs · June 23, 2004 9:35AM

Yep, small letters do not touch. I'll say this about recent red books, they have some great photos of common varieties. I believe they have this one in there, too.

goose3 · June 23, 2004 10:53AM

here's my '56

want a pic of the 8/7 too?

goose3 · June 23, 2004 10:58AM

my coin but still on Heritage's site from quite a while back. Note the broken wing tip and the die chip or portion of the misplaced 1 in the field under the eagle and above the date. Also you can barely see in this pic the flag of the underlying 7 to the NE of the last 8. Much easier to see in hand.

DominusDeus · June 23, 2004 11:15AM

:: performs ninja hand seals in the order of Ox, Tiger, Serpent, Dragon, Dog, and performs his Genjutsu technique Ninja Image Crop ::

Lakesammman · June 23, 2004 2:31PM

If you practice, you can tell the difference by looking at the eagles head. The upper beak has a broader thicker curve and the lower beak thicker on the LL variety, the head more box-like and the lower beak thinner on the SL variety. It's a useful clue if the letters are worn or damaged.

tuni88 · June 24, 2004 2:34PM

So that's a LARGE letter variety shown then, right?

And what does "1858/7" mean?

1858 Flying Eagle Cent

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