Small date or large date?

[Imahik]

Hi, guys. I don’t know how to tell if a cent has a small date or a large date. This 1970 is a good example. Is it determined by where on the mint mark that the seven “points?” I notice that this is a consideration for 1960, 1970 and 1982, but I don’t know what to look for. Thanks again. I love this site.
Dennis
http://home.comcast.net/~dennis_moncrief/1970s.jpg
Sorry about the photo. This cent is bright and shiny and my scanner washes them out.
P.S. Do you prefer that the images be imbedded or linked?

[coppercoins]

Dennis - your cent is a large date. The most telling sign is the crease that runs horizontally across the 7 where the horizontal and diagonal meet. In other words, the 7 looks like two straight pieces stuck together. The small date cents ALL have a "one-piece" 7.

[Imahik]

Thanks, C.D. No one could come up with an answer. I have heard that it was where on the mint mark that the tail of the seven pointed, and that the last two numbers in the date would be higher than the first two numbers. We are all new, so it is kind of like a “blind leading the blind” program. Also, I just realized that I put this question under the wrong category. I was so accustom to going straight to the “Error Coin …” category that I forgot to see if my question qualified. Thanks again.

[coppercoins]

I can help you by telling you that it has nothing to do with the positioning of the 7 in relation to the mintmark, because there were over a hundred different dies used in SF that year, and the mintmark positioning is slightly different on every one of them. The mintmarks were added to the dies by hand back then.

If you use the little test I posted before, you'll never get it wrong. Large date has a crease on the 7 - like a fold. Small date doesn't. This also applies to the proofs.