1500 question

[Anonymous]

I'm noticing that wheat pennies often ring in the same signal that a zinc cent would. I've never had that happen until the last couple of days and I was wanting to know if that's normal or will soil mineralization effect what reading i get. I'm getting most wheats reading at 7.5 instead of 8 where a normal copper penny would read. Also I've noticed that nickles dont give a consistant reading on the meter. Is this common? I found that nickels bounce around the scale between nickel and silver range and everywhere in between. <img src="/metal/html/confused.gif" border=0 width=15 height=22 alt=":?">
Jeff

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Jeff.
Yeah, soil conditions can effect the accuracy of your ID. Nickles are sometimes hard to lock-onto. Normally, nickels meter 3.5 if they're shallow, sometimes 2.5 for deeper ones... though I've also gotten belltones before on deep nickels.
Kinda' quiet coins those nickels. Often coins will read lower on the scale than you might think... sometimes a penny signal will turn up a dime, that's normal.
Make yourself a test-garden, they help alot.
HH Skillet

 

[Anonymous]

Some of the older wheatie and IH will read like a new zinc penny too. I beleive these are the ones back in the teens and I beleive 1 on the 40s also will.
Rick

 

[Anonymous]

Gosh nickles from Shield to Jefferson have different mettalic composition..Same goes for old indian head pennies right up to the new memorial penny. Add depth, mineralization, and the shape of the coin as some are awful crusty and surely don't expect everyone to fall in the same block. 1500 is a nice machine but doesn't perform miracles. Am sure if you used some of the other top of the line models would find the same thing..

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have a 1500, but soil mineralization and soil moisture definitely affects the ID reading on my 1250. In general, I find that very moist soil will cause coins to read a little high, and high mineralization will cause coins to read a little low. The aspect of a coin will also affect ID, i.e. a coin laying flat will read more correctly than a coin laying at an angle or on edge which can cause it to read low. Every site is different, so you have to disregard any preconceptions and pay attention to what finds read at each new site. However, I don't have an explanation for a nickel reading as high as silver. For me, they always seem to range from pulltab to nickel or slightly below. HB