Have I missed something ? Hunters notching out pennies.

[Dancer]

Reading some other forums, found a lot of guys are notching out pennies cause they bother them. Now all the machines I've ever used, this would surely put a hurt on my Silver finds. These guys were beach hunters using scoops. Not like they were bending down and digging. Even as good as the ATP is , I get a hit in that area I'll be digging. (Except those rusty bottle cap squals) I am guilty of trusting the Pro on the pull tab signals though. Of course if I'm into a nest of clad, I'll start skipping the penny's. Than go back later to clean up. Yesterday, had the Ace hunting trashy areas, mulch tot lots. Old Ace came up with 18 pennies. But sniffed out 11 nickels out of that mess. (Standard coil ) After had a little time to hunt the girls softball field with the Infinium. Not much left out there, but the Inferno scratched out some clad, 4 nickels, and a shallow heavy women's Stirling ring with birth stone. Those 15 nickels give me 488 for the year. Goal being 500.
Back to the penny's, you guys dig them?

 

[tabman]

If you are talking about zinc pennies, I'm digging. There are gold rings in the zinc penny range. Especially class rings.

tabman

 

[jimmyk]

I always dig the clad penny signals. Have been surprised more than once with good finds that read as clad pennies. A silver locket, a silver ring and an 1847 half dime, among other thins.

jimmyk in Missouri

 

[AT Old Gold]

what do I look for on my AT Gold that would indicate a nickel? I am thinking it's another folded pop can.

 

[mudpuppy]

I dont know why a beach hunter would do that? "Dig it all" is the generally accepted advice for operating on a beach...Perhaps theres a sound strategy they are operating under, Like maybe they are swinging for mid tones, foil, and tab signals (gold) only and dont want to hear clad??..

Pennies and bottlecaps, bobby pins and the like signal a "Drop Zone" that a guy wants to focus up on a bit...whether they be in a field, totlot, or beach..pennies (coins) represent a primary drop zone, especially on the beach...

Maybe some guys just like to walk and not be bothered with harvesting targets? I really cant see the logic, but it must be there someplace...
Mud

 

[Ytcoinshooter]

Notching out the zincs makes no sense for all the above previously stated reasons.

 

[CalvinD]

what do I look for on my AT Gold that would indicate a nickel? I am thinking it's another folded pop can.

ID around 52-53 on shallow ones and a smaller pinpoint area.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Wow! I never realized lots of people notch out pennies??? That is good of course for the rest of us who dig them and get the benefits of other great targets in that notched out place. Any target in the ground can have it's VDI change slightly due to the type and amount of oxidation formed on the outside, depth of the target, size and a combination of any of those.

I used to seek out places littered with pennies. At the end of the year, I used to buy a gold coin with my penny totals. Of course, the price of gold has gone up significantly today, so you need to include nickels and dimes and even quarters to purchase that same gold coin today. But, back then, I got my share of silver coins, some silver rings and a couple of huge 10K gold rings.

All the coins below were purchase with a lot of pennies and other clad which I found metal detecting in the last 20 years.

 

[togamac]

Guilty! I notch out pennies (70-80) occasionally. Because of a home situation my time detecting is severely limited and I don't want to be spending my time digging those raggedy things. Half the things can't even be cleaned up to spend!

Now I said occasionally because I only do it when coin shooting say a playing field. If I'm not digging pennies, I'm spending that time locating nickels (51), dimes (81-82) and quarters (83-86). The 14K gold rings I've found came in at 62-66 and the only 10K class ring I've found came in at 45.

Am I missing some things? Maybe, but hey, no place is ever hunted out right? Go for it and HH!

 

[ohiochris]

Depends on the person , how much time or patience they have , the location , and just how loaded the place is with actual pennies. Beach hunters should never skip pennies at all because of the higher potential for jewelry in the penny range on a beach , but some of us ( myself included ) many times dont have the time do dig 2000 pennies in the hopes that one of them may eventually be something better. Looking at the realistic percentages , your day of digging pennies can be just that.....a day of digging nothing but pennies.....though sometimes you can get lucky. If I only have a certain amount of time I am inclined to favor a pocket full of clad or other finds over what many times will end up as just a pocket full of pennies if I took the time to dig them all. Though I never notch them out , so I have the opportunity to still dig a "percentage" of the penny signals. When I hit that site again and have more time thats when I clean out the pennies. I "usually" treat penny signals like I treat pulltab signals......I dig every 3rd , 4th , or 5th one to atleast give me a chance of finding the goodies in disguise , and come back for the rest another day. There is no right or wrong way to do it , you just do what you have the time or the patience for.

 

[upnorth]

Maybe I'm a snob or just lazy, but I ignore MANY penny signals. Then not too long ago I saw a post by John explaining that silver dimes up here hit at 81, the predominant penny signal here, for the most part with some variations. Sure enough, the last few silver dimes that I dug I swung over and they were a stone cold 81 lock. So maybe I am pooching myself on silver dimes. But it is my lower back that helps to make a dig or no dig decision after a few hours. What usually makes me dig a penny signal is if the hit is deeper and slightly quieter than normal. Those signals usually stop me dead in my tracks, and I get serious.

 

[Dancer]

Yep, those pennies rank right along iffy signals, & pull tabs. Last year I tried to get 5,000 of them, ended up with something over 3000. But something happened with cleaning out those cents. My hunting sites became a lot easier to hunt, and more productive. Now I'm not telling you that when I'm deep in quarter's & dimes I don't get happy feet, cause I do. It's when a site starts to Peter out that things start getting interesting. Cleaning out the penny's, & iffy signals. Now I'm just a clad, ring, etc hunter, but really wringing everything out of a place is the way a lot of guys hunt.
This past spring, I hunted a beat up ball field for something over an hour. Lot of tabs, 6 clads and a 18k ring. Later in the summer at another place 10 clads, a small 10k ring. Of course plenty of iffy trash signals dug both times. Now on the other hand I got a great clad hunting park that has given up about 467 coins for little over $63 this season. But just one copper bracelet, and a small silver ring. Go figure.