Help Id'ing Indian Head pennies

[Boston Metal]

I was looking out my back window on Saturday and saw a man metal detecting the field behind my house. I walked over to introduce myself and see how he was doing. He had a handful of coins and two Indian head cents, no silver. Of course I have spent about many hours working that field, sometimes in the same spot he was in, so I was upset with myself that I had missed those Indian heads. He was using a lower end Whites and said the Indian heads were id'ing just above a nickel but below copper pennies. That is a signal I have been skipping!

I'd like to know how Indian heads are Id'ing on the F series. Particularly f2 and f4, but it seems all the F's ID about the same so any input is welcome.

Frank

 

[DKinPA]

Hey Frank....I am by no means an expert but I can tell you the 6 or 8 Indians I have found this year with my F75 LTD have all ID'd in the low 50's range. Like any other coin on the LTD the signal was solid and the VDI was very stable.

Hope this helps!!

Dave

 

[osgood]

Ive had the same experience as Dave with the 75 ltd. At a great park I found I was using three tones and at first was ignoring some of the mid sounds. Till I found some of those where IH pennies and like he said in the 50's and or very low 60's. They where very solid hits even if registering as "deep". If not too deep they might also register quite hi like a newer penny. CO

 

[jim tn]

With the regular F 75 and the F 75 LTD all I have found read from about 57 up to the mid 60's. My last one, which was only 2" deep, read and sounded like a zinc cent in 4h tones. On the old sites, there are probably some older coins and possibly a gold coin even, being missed by not digging those 40's and 50's readings. Sure is a lot of trash that falls into that range, though. HH jim tn

 

[cometguy]

I am going to hazard a guess and say that the Indians are acting slightly different in various parts of the country do to soil corrosion and iron content. I am in central Indiana and if they have any depth on them at all, they come in right under 60. I love those coins and am really pleased when I come in just under 60 on a vdi. I guess we all need to consider taking a closer look at the lower vdis.

 

[gmanlight]

If the field is not full of modern trash i would not skip any ID #
Dig all repeatable targets.
Earlier this year we hunted a park that had topsoil removed
The first day i had no silver and my buds did so on day two i say to self only dig
silver targets.First target came in at a penny # about 68 i was about to walk but
decided to dig . My first Spanish coin a 1806 1/2 Reale about have the size of a dime.
A early Fatty Indian made of a nickle mix will be a low 40# a regular Indian around 60
on my F75

 

[comisoas]

I just found 3 Indians yesterday where an old house had been torn down. My F-75 read 59 and 60 on 2 of them, the other was like 45 and skipped around. I was in 2F mode and would dig anything that gave a fairly solid, consistant hit and was not the grunty iron signal. I need to go back and hit it a couple more times, because I am sure I have missed some.

 

[FindandDetect]

Indians can vary.. but pretty much right where he said. I have an indian in my test garden at 7.5" and hits around a zinc penny on the F75. With my V3i it reads about a copper penny / dime.

 

[osgood]

Like numbers above . With my first outing several years ago with f75 ltd i hit a park loaded with old coins and first time around did not dig those 55-60 id #s till i later figured out what i was missing. I will say usually with the 3 tone, the IHs sounded solid mid tone, with some occasional jumping to hi tones, but the operative word is solid. They really produced a solid heavy alert for sure. Got one two days ago, 1904, Good Hunts, CO

 

[CaptEsteban]

There are 2 different compositions of the Indian Heads, too, that may " read " a little differently on your detectors.

Indian Head cent
United States
Value 1 cent (0.01 US dollars)
Mass (1859–1864) 4.67 g,
(1864–1909) 3.11 g
Diameter 19.05 mm (0.750 in)
Edge Plain
Composition (1859–1864) 88% copper, 12% nickel
(1864–1909) 95% copper, 5% tin or zinc
Years of minting 1859–1909
Mint marks S. Located below the wreath on the reverse. Philadelphia Mint specimens struck without mint mark.

 

[AMC4EVR]

The newer composition Indianhead reads just like what it's made of everytime on my F75 LTD. I get a zinc signal that bounces up to copper penny. Always bouncy, but the numbers jump in that block. 58 to 68 or so for a jump. Anything that only jumps between two coin segments is worth digging. You will find some jewelry damaged silver and indianhead pennies by digging in repeating number blocks. Newbies go for that sure thing with the dead on numbers, and they don't catch onto this right away. This works to find what others have passed by. Another thing I do is run my sensitivity at 40 almost everytime in bp mode. I don't run the numbers up higher than what they really should be on the targets. Higher sens seems to do that on my 75.

 

[REVIER]

Mid 50's to the low 60's on my F2.
If I am in an area that might have old coins a zinc cent signal could very well be something way better.

If they are way deep near the limit of your coil's reach they might even come in lower for some reason.
Dig all solid signals no matter what they are and take no chances.
As a matter of fact, even if they aren't solid but sound real good dig those too.
Here is the greatest coin spill I ever dug.
Swinging the F70, 7-8" deep, it actually was kinda bouncy from the mid 50's to the low 80's.
It sounded too good not to check it out so I did.
All the coins were spread out over about a square foot area but my big DD coil evidently had scanned more than one at a time so hence the jumpy signal.
A 1915 wheat and three Indians...1901, 1902, 1887.

 

[REVIER]

One more Indian, the nicest I ever found.
6-7" deep in a site littered with heavy iron also found using the F70 and big DD coil in all metal.
About 2" above this coin was a large and very thick rusted square nail so the signal was again pretty jumpy but I kept seeing low 60's numbers popping up on the screen along with higher plus iron numbers thrown off by that nail.
Those 60's numbers repeated enough so I dug it.
The ability of the Fishers to see around and through iron with the right settings amazes me if you practice and learn what to look for.
Don't know if the F2/F4 models can do this because I never dug anything in this iron situation with my F2, but I am pretty sure all the models from the F5 and up can probably do it if set up correctly.

Out of the ground this coin was about a 62 from what I remember.