I got your PM. The easiest way is to buy an N-6 and N-10, both of which are relatively affordable.
The attribution is based on six steps on the obverse:
1. Position of peak of "1" vertically relative to the point of the bust - distance between the two light blue horiz. lines
2. Position of point of bust horizontally relative to the peak of the "1" - yellow vert. line
3. Position of the downward-pointing hair curl over the first numeral "8" in the date - green vert. line
4. The distance of the bottom of the lower most hair curl below the bust relative to the third numeral in the date - distance in between red horiz. lines
5. Position of the leftmost edge of the base of the first "1" in the date horizontally relative to the denticle most immediately adjacent below the numeral - blue vert. line
6. Position of the leftmost edge of the base of the first "1" in the date vertically relative to the denticle most immediately adjacent below the numeral - distance between the orange horiz. lines
Here is a quick diagram I knocked out in Photoshop to give you an idea of what you are looking at. It features an 1847, Newcomb 29 variety.
If you don't have Newcomb or Grellman's book, study pictures of the variety you are wanting to hunt for, and note the positions of the 6 obverse areas above. Then start looking for matches.
Reverse is tougher -- easiest way to check reverses is to get a good, high res photo of the reverse of the variety you are hunting and use a photo program to render it partially transparent and to overlay that reverse on top of the reverse you are looking at, and see how close they are.
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ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890
"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis
Posted 05/07/2017 7:23 pm
