Pennies high ringing

[sube]

Years Material Weight (grains) Weight (grams) 1793–1795 ~100% copper 208 grains 13.48 1795–1857 † ~100% copper 168 grains 10.89 1856–1864 88% copper, 12% nickel (also known as NS-12) 72 grains 4.67 1864–1942 bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) 48 grains 3.11 1943 zinc-coated steel (also known as 1943 steel cent) 42 grains 2.72 1944–1946 gilding metal (95% copper, 5% zinc) 48 grains 3.11 1947–1962 bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) 48 grains 3.11 1962 – September 1982 gilding metal (95% copper, 5% zinc) 48 grains 3.11 October 1982 – present copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) 38.6 grains 2.5 Why you should not cherry pick dimes and pennies , Your in a spot digging wheats in the 30s to 50s there all ID very close a point or 2 either way then you hit a signal that IDs 4 to 5 points higher (YOUR THINKING DIME ) but dig up a wheat or memorial and scratch your head and say hum . Looking at the chart above we see 44 to 46 have 5 percent zinc in them also 62 to 82 have 5 percent zinc (THESE ARE THE HIGH RINGERS) They read as a clad dime nox will read the clad dime same as the penny ID 25 . Going back to the 44 to 46 they made a lot of these as you can see 62 is a year you can get a higher or lower ID it's the amount of tin in the coin . The mint never gave the percent of how much tin to zinc that was used they probably did not know either. Tin is a low conductor 2 point lower than iron and zinc has almost 2 times the conduction of tin so the less tin the higher the ID. I have dug many early wheats that read indian and others that read 5 points higher on the ID scale also have dug a 45 wheat that read indian but was corroded. Dimes seated barber and mercs , seated dmes read like dimes when not wore but most read lower because I rarely find one without wear . Now barbers will read lower than the other dimes because they wore extremely fast the first couple of years till they were only in good condition then they wore like the other dimes .Dimes well read like copper zinc pennies or lower by 2 points if wore. Zinc coins with iron the coin well rot and the iron won't copper and silver with iron the iron rots and the coin does not. Then again IDs change from ground mineral , ware of the coin , corroded and then trash with targets change IDs . So dig those penny IDs you may get a bigger surprize of a dime as to scratching your head over finding a wheat or memorial .sube ​

 

[Monte]

Although I seldom do, there are those who like to 'Cherry pick' but they are usually after the higher-conductive Silver Dimes, Quarters, halves and rare Dollars. Seldom after half-Dimes because they read lower, and many who 'Cherry Pick' are ignoring the modern Zinc Cent due to the rapid surface decay of those coins as well as their lower VDI read-out due to lower conductivity.

Most serous Coin Hunter who Chery Pick are also going after coins in the surface to perhaps 4" range, or possibly 5" to 6" based on the site location, if any masking trash is present, and the detector they are using. Those who do 'Cheery Pick' also know that most of the better Copper Cents do have a higher conductivity reading that is similar-to, or very close to, the typical Silver Dime. It will depend a lot of the particular make and model detector used as well as the coin's depth and orientation in the ground, but most good Copper Cents and slightly smaller Silver Dimes share a very similar VDI read-out.

I'll abbreviate your post a little to point out what i determined long ago when it came to the small US 1¢ coins. Roy Lagal and I talked about this and some other things we noticed back in February of '81 discussing VLF/TR-Disc. models two years before we had any Target ID detectors. We concluded the same thing as I will note below:

1864–1942 bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)

This group of coins include the change in Indian Head 1¢ coins from 1864 thru 1909, and the Wheat-back Cents starting in 1909. Even way back then we had some people complain about not finding Indian Head Cents, but the main reason was they just were not selecting old-use locations where they might be. A lot of Discriminating detectors could adjust up to reject common foil, bottle caps and pull tabs, but not adjust high enough for aluminum screw caps ... but some did, and a lot of urban Coin Hunters didn't like trash so they used all the Discrimination they could.

The in '83, when we started to get our first visual Target ID units from the new Teknetics and others followed, we also had higher-adjustments for Discrimination. The average Coin Hunter used both audio and visual Discrimination to reject or try to identify trash, and 'trash' included targets that didn't ID like a good 1¢ / 10¢ coin.

Visual Target ID, especially when we have VDI number read-out, made it easy to demonstrate to others why they might not be finding Indian Head Cents and even many early Wheat-back cents. Here is what I found decades ago sampling assortments of old and new coins.

Most Indian Head Cents, from 1864 to 1909, and many of the early Wheat-Back Cents from 1909 to 'about' 1920, give or take, all show that they were made out of the same alloy mix and were the same size and shape, HOWEVER, one can sample coins today and see that those Indian Head and early Wheat-Back Cents have a somewhat LOWER VDI read-out.

The Wheat-Backs after about 1920 to the transition to Memorials in the latter '50s and on to the Zinc Cents 40-some years ago, had a much more consistent VDI read-out that was similar to most typical Silver Dimes. Even the Wheaties in the '40s made out of shell casings, etc., generally read higher. The main difference since about 1920 was the 1943 'Steel' Cent until they off-loaded those crappy Zinc cents on us.

Most Indian Head Cents and many early Wheat-Backs from 1909 to ±1920 will have a lower conductivity level and produce a VDI read-out that is closer to an average Zinc Cent.

That brings the question ..... Why?

The only good answer is that is has to do with the source or purity of the Copper combined with the foundry / processing for the final quality of the Copper being used for minting those coins. Thus, Cherry Pickers will ignore modern Zinc Cents and coins that have a lower and similar reading to go after higher-conductive GOOD Copper cents and Silver Dimes, leaving being most Zinc and a lot of very early Wheaties and Indian Heads.

Hey, it is winter and that means cabin fever time for many. Question my findings and comments? Get a good assortment of several Indian Heads, early pre-'20 Wheaties, and a number of other Copper Cents up to the late '70s, make sure they are all in decent condition, and use as many detectors as possible with different VDI read-outs and do some bench test comparisons of your own.

Monte

 

[rick in mi]

Right on Monte. Over the years and many penny finds I've noticed the difference. I admit in the beginning I cherry picked. But when my first injun popped out of the ground with a low vdi I started digging the lower numbers. I find at least one injun a year. Good post sube!!! hhrickinmi

 

[Ronstar]

A year ago I hit a dime signal deep in easy digging ground where no chemicals have ever been used (a 100 yr old Arboretum), ended up a near mint condition 1903 IH (minor green patina).
Bingo. I’ll take that coin over a clad any day but thats what I thought I was digging…

 

[BigTony]

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Years Material Weight (grains) Weight (grams) 1793–1795 ~100% copper 208 grains 13.48 1795–1857 † ~100% copper 168 grains 10.89 1856–1864 88% copper, 12% nickel (also known as NS-12) 72 grains 4.67 1864–1942 bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) 48 grains 3.11 1943 zinc-coated steel (also known as 1943 steel cent) 42 grains 2.72 1944–1946 gilding metal (95% copper, 5% zinc) 48 grains 3.11 1947–1962 bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) 48 grains 3.11 1962 – September 1982 gilding metal (95% copper, 5% zinc) 48 grains 3.11 October 1982 – present copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) 38.6 grains 2.5 Why you should not cherry pick dimes and pennies , Your in a spot digging wheats in the 30s to 50s there all ID very close a point or 2 either way then you hit a signal that IDs 4 to 5 points higher (YOUR THINKING DIME ) but dig up a wheat or memorial and scratch your head and say hum . Looking at the chart above we see 44 to 46 have 5 percent zinc in them also 62 to 82 have 5 percent zinc (THESE ARE THE HIGH RINGERS) They read as a clad dime nox will read the clad dime same as the penny ID 25 . Going back to the 44 to 46 they made a lot of these as you can see 62 is a year you can get a higher or lower ID it's the amount of tin in the coin . The mint never gave the percent of how much tin to zinc that was used they probably did not know either. Tin is a low conductor 2 point lower than iron and zinc has almost 2 times the conduction of tin so the less tin the higher the ID. I have dug many early wheats that read indian and others that read 5 points higher on the ID scale also have dug a 45 wheat that read indian but was corroded. Dimes seated barber and mercs , seated dmes read like dimes when not wore but most read lower because I rarely find one without wear . Now barbers will read lower than the other dimes because they wore extremely fast the first couple of years till they were only in good condition then they wore like the other dimes .Dimes well read like copper zinc pennies or lower by 2 points if wore. Zinc coins with iron the coin well rot and the iron won't copper and silver with iron the iron rots and the coin does not. Then again IDs change from ground mineral , ware of the coin , corroded and then trash with targets change IDs . So dig those penny IDs you may get a bigger surprize of a dime as to scratching your head over finding a wheat or memorial .sube ​

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Sube, very good post. You can add in Canadian cents prior to 1984. This past month I located three (on different digs of course) that rang up as dimes and possible silver. Copper content is higher than zincs.
Your post has many folks thinking of going back to hunted out sights and finding more targets in these ranges. Thanks Tony NJ