I am mostly an ancient collector, but I have started collecting early American coins. I just purchased this large cent at a local club auction and I noted in the Red Book the "medium Letters" variation. It looks to me that this is one is "medium letters", but I would really appreciate someone more experienced could confirm it. Thanks
The Redbook has Large & Medium letters. The Large Cent book calls the Medium letter var. "Small Letters." Your coin is the Large Letter variety.
How do you tell the difference? In the RedBook it looks to me, the medium letter coins seem to have the second "s" in states directly over the "N" in one. On the large letter coin, it seems the "s" is slightly out of alignment with the "N". Is there a better indicator?
The photo of the coin in the large cent book allows collectors to identify the variety of the coins by the placement of their design elements. Go on the internet an Google 1829 sm ltrs then 1829 lg ltrs and you'll see it is easy.
Thanks for the info. I see the difference in the cut of the "A's". Are the medium/small always identified by that? I saw that the filled in A's are not consistent.
Not all that easy. When I first saw this I would have sworn it was a small letters. I tend to look at the spacing and gaps between the letters in TAT. On the small letters they are well separated, especially the TA, and the A has a small left foot serif. On the large letters they are close and the A has a long left foot serif. It looked to me like a small letter. Well there is only one small letter rev in 1829 and it is used on N-3,5, and 9. Problem. None of the obvs for 3, 5, or 9 match the OP coin. So I started checking some of the other leaf positions. The leaf point below the second T in STATES is a little right of center. That is only true on the revs of 4,7 (same die), and 8. On all the other varieties that point is to the right of the T. On the rev of 4,7 the point of the leaf is below the upright of the R in AMERICA. On N-8 it is right of center of the R. This is N-8 (The obv also confirms this, N-8 is the only one with the point of the sixth star noticeably to the left of the point of the coronet. It is very slightly left on the obv of N-1,4 and 5 which are all the same obv die. ) N-8 is a large letter rev. The strange thing is on N-8 the feet of TA are close together and the A has a long left foot. On this coin the foot of the A is short and they are well apart. Take a close look at that left foot and see if there is any damage to it. This is why I don't like using letter size to attribute. It can often be hard to tell one from another unless they are REALLY different.
Helps me. With the original pictures everything matched N-8 except the long lrft foot of the A being missing and too much space between the T and A. Withthe new pictures the foot of the A is clear and now everything fits.
After purchasing a 1830 cent many years ago sold to me as 'Medium Letters' which it was not, I tried to learn how best to discern the letter type. The relatively large spacing between the letters in 'States', specifically between the feet of the letters T A T E is the best indicator for me. Here is a low grade example of Newcomb-5, R-3 I found unattributed at a local show last year. Not 100% sure of the variety, but it is unmistakably a small or medium letter variety. It clearly shows the wide separation between the letters, as mentioned. Also has the filled A's which I think are typical of the variety.
Eduard, It is a N-5. N3. 5 and 9 all share the same rev. N-3 and 5 have star 6 ponting at the coronet tip, N-9 point to the right of the tip. N-3 comes cracked through stars 1-4, N-5 has a strong inner circle at the tips of the denticals below those stars. 5 doesn't have the crack, 3 doesn't have the inner circle.
Wow. I never noticed the ring difference. You guys are observant. I always learn a lot from this forum.
