5c Long Spine 2007 Onwards

Attached is a "standard" 5c Reverse (Short spine). The Long Spine variety first started to appear in 2007. (I should call it "tall spines" so as not to confuse with the "long spine" description applied to London Mint Mark.) If you look to the right of the two spines at the top of the head that appear to be leaning in and supporting each other creating a teepee effect (being on the left hand side of the head but the right side of the coin as you are looking at it) you will see two spines which are taller than the others. One of which touches or almost touches the outer rim of the coin. Also the echidna in that coin appears chubbier and taking up more of the Reverse of the coin. This variety first appeared in 2007. My study of the 5c coins only occurred during a period of about 12 months in 2015/16 and on the basis of that I observed that for some years the standard Reverse was more evident in Mint packets than in circulation coins. I have not checked any from 2017 onwards. It may be that these "tall spines" coincide with the tiny SD which started to appear around that time as the SD in the Long Spine image is tinier than the SD in the Short Spine image.