1970 small date a die varirty?

[cnladue]

just found these i sealed up in that same year!

[JamesWiles]

The photos are too small to tell if they are small date or not. On the small date the interior of the 9 points toward the 7 rather than down.

[cnladue]

i am planning on putting the six best on ebay,if this is a small.I wonder if any of you advise to have them slabbed first?

[cnladue]

this is one of the prettiest

[wavysteps]

It does appear that you do have some small date 1970-S Linocln cents, even the weak LIBERTY, which can be used as one of the diagnostics for this die, is plainly visable.

As far as to slab or not to slab; If the coin was in excellent condition (in this case above MS-65), I would consider it, however, below that grade, it might not be cost effective.

BJ Neff

[cnladue]

as i was magnifying the 3rd one i imaged i see a E on his collar?

[cnladue]

I started this bragging thread with a question and i still am not sure.The small date 1970 s is a die variety?

[diamond]

Yes, it's a die variety.

[wavysteps]

The "E" that you refer to seems to be post MINT damage. If it where a droppoed letter, the "E" would be incused.

BJ Neff

[Kuriouskoinkat]

Yes, it's a die variety.
Why do you say it's a die variety Mike ?? Because of the weak Liberty ?? I'm no expert yet ? But I was taught the Lg. Date also can have a weak Liberty..Are There two different Fonts ?? Like on A 70-S sm. date the 9 would be like the old style 9 as in the 1969-S lincoln cent vs. a bold blunt 9 ?? My opinion doesn't matter anyway because "I don't know what I'm doing"
What do you think ?? I have alot of 1970-S lg. Date with a real weak TY

[Kuriouskoinkat]

Yes, it's a die variety.
Mike, Please disregard my previous reply I didn't notice one thumbnails till now. sorry

[wavysteps]

KuriousKoinKat - I am not to sure where you fit in on this thread. However, let's go over the 1970 SD and LD.

First - for some reason, the small date has an inherent weakness in LIBERTY. This may have been a hubbing problem with this particular working hub transfer to the working die, or it may even revolve around the master die, but it all boils down to the fact that LIBERTY is weak. Granted, there may be instances where LIBERTY is also weak in the large date version, however, it is not consistent as is in the small date.

Second - this can be considered a variety die for the date is the only design element changed. A new master die may have been incorporated due to a shortage of working hubs that were made from the first master die used. Since both proofs and business strikes were made from this master die, that may have been the case. Just speculation, but more than likely two different engravers were used, one for the 1970 large date and one for the 1970 small date, when the master die was re-engraved and hubbed. This would account for the different font styles used between the two dates.

Third - it would appear that the San Francisco mint was the last mint to receive their alloted dies. If we look back at the 1949 Lincoln cent,we see a similar problem; a need for more dies for this mint (San Francisco) and a difference occurring in their production.

Of all the different large and small date years, it seems that 1970 is the hardest to distinguish. As pointed out, the 9 digit is the key to finding which variety you have, however, the 0 digit and the 7 digit also have a variance that helps.


BJ Neff