Two-cent piece compare and contrast...

[Jazzy]

I remember reading somewhere that the 1864 "small motto" variety had devices that were more similar to earlier patterns than the devices on the 1864 "large motto" coins. So I just wanted to post them all side by side just to see if that was true. Of course, there are a number of two-cent patterns from 1863 and 1864. The pic I found is of Judd 312.

 

Large Motto obv., Small Motto obv., Judd 312 obv.

 

 

[HaydenTubbs]

Kinda

[Jazzy]

The first obvious question is whether the Large Motto variety was struck on a smaller planchet than the other two, or is that just a variance in the size of the pics...

[jtryka]

Well, I just bought the SM, and I compared it to my LM and they are the same size, so the discrepancy is the size of the photo and not the coin. Another interesting aspect is that it seems the SM variety has a slightly larger date than the LM, which is true in the photo and evident in person (though it's really not very noticable).

 

I seem to recall reading an article on the series once which speculated that perhaps only 40,000 SM were struck (or perhaps that was the surviving population), so it does seem possible that these were struck by mistake using pattern dies from 1864.

[James_OldeTowne]

I like the reverse of the pattern better. I think the arrangement of the letters in CENTS is more stylish than what was actually used in business-strike production.

 

James