1982 P Large Date vs. Small Date?

[Rhubarb]

For the life of me I have yet to tell the difference in them. A Federal Wrapped Roll weighs aprox. 4.10 oz. The problem I'm having is trying to figure the difference in the date. Thank's
Rhubarb

[coppercoins]

I've never bothered with the weight differences, because some of the fed wrapped and bank wrapped rolls are mixed metals. The date difference, however, is very easy to tell.

Just look at the 82 in both of these pictures. Also remember that the digits on a large date are thick, while on the small date they are thin.

This is a large date...



And this is a small date...

[coppercoins]

Oh...by the way, don't let the mintmark in the small date picture lead you astray...only pay attention to the size and shape of the digits of the date.

There are eight possible combinations of large and small date with zinc and copper. There is only one of those eight possibilities that is still unknown, and probably was never minted. That would be the D mint, small date copper. All D mint small dates known are zinc. Probable reason for this is because they switched over to zinc around mid-year and didn't switch to small date until late in the year.

[Dick]

Rhubarb, if you look at the "8"'s, you will note that the small date is in every case , perfectly round. The large date is slightly wider in the top loop. That id the only way I have been able to determine, for sure. If someone knows for sure that there is an exception, please advise. Thanks,
Dick

[coppercoins]

Well, the shape of the 2 is different, the shape of all the letters in the motto and LIBERTY are all different, and the small date has thinner devices all over. The bust looks different between the two, and the spacing from the bust to the rim is also very different.

The best way, though, is to just look at the two different dates I posted and note all the differences - there are many.

1982 small and large dates are among the easiest to distinguish between.