The 1858 8/7 Flying Eagle Cent was minted in two varieties, Large Letters and Small Letters. To differentiate between the two coins, the small letter variety has a space between the letters “A” and “M” in America and the large letter variety has almost no space between the “A” and “M” with the letters almost touching. By studying the die states of the Reverse, it was found the Large Letter coins were struck prior to Small Letter coins.Flying Eagle Cents were minted from 1856 through 1858. The Flying Eagle Cent was the first small cent to be minted in the U.S., replacing the more expensive Large Cents of the past.