Ring Man Admits He's Still Learning............

[Rosco Bookbinder]

After reading the following article, http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=2912

I did some testing on my own.........The Pre 1982 pennies show different than the ones later. Copper verses Clad...........

Very interesting for sure. It still doesn't tell a person when to or not turn off pennies. You will miss some things as we have talked about in previous posts.

Happy tecting one and all.............

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

When people are watching me I love to tell them if it is older then 82 or newer. They first are surprised I know it is a cent and then I know if it is pre 82.

 

[Rosco Bookbinder]

[quote John 'n' W.Va]When people are watching me I love to tell them if it is older then 82 or newer. They first are surprised I know it is a cent and then I know if it is pre 82.[/quote]

Only problem with that John is that dimes hit in exactly the same place as the pre 82's. That has fooled me many times when I though it was a penny and it turned out to be a dime. SCORE!!!...heheeh........

 

[tab-nabit]

I don't discriminate any penny from any of my machines, never know.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

On my Ace a cent rarely hits on a dime. A copper cent hits one notch below a dime and a zinc cent hits one notch below that.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah copper reads high, clad reads low, about where an IH will read.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Just like magic ain't it? I do that with kids when they are swarming around me. Just blows them away.

Bill

 

[Paul(NWO)]

gives Bell-Tone on the Pre- and partial 1982 series and the standard tone for the zincs. It registers Penney for the copper and a notch below for the zincs. I sort 1982's for the difference for a friend who is a collector. Some coin dealers think the only way is to weigh them. Yes 1982s went both ways.
HH

 

[cwilk]

Wheat cents and early memorial cents are the same compositionas Indian Heads. I have never found and IH but I have bench tested for them and they ring up just like any other bronze small cent, wheat or memorial. Does being buried for a long period make the difference?

Chris

 

[Uncle Willy]

Wheats and early memorials are copper while the IH has a good deal of bronze in its composition and always read just below "cent" on all my detectors. The newer cents are basically copper plated base metal. I've got several IH's. I'll re-check them to make sure.

Bill

 

[cwilk]

All small cents from 1864 to 1962 are 95% copper and 5 percent tin and zinc except for 1943 steel and 1944-1946 which are 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc. Pennies from 1944 to 1946 were made from recycled cartridge cases. At least thats what the mint says and they call that composition bronze up until 1958. I just tested 10 IH pennies and 7 rang up just below cent 3 just above. 10 wheats some of which rang up below cent, most one notch above and some as dime. 10 "copper" memorial cents all but one rang up as dime. I think the difference is the quality of the metals. If you ever read up on the melt potential in copper pennies most articles state that the copper the mint uses is lower grade than say a wire maker would use. I can't remember the proper term. Junk copper? Before it was made illegal earlier this year, I read that recycling pennies into copper required more energy than traditional scrap copper such as wire or tubing. It was marginally profitable at $3.00 copper.

There is obviously some difference in the amount of tin or quality of the copper. They all weigh 3.11 grams until midway into 1982 when they became 99.2% zinc and .8% copper and weigh 2.5 grams.

At least I know why I've never found an IH penny now. A good excuse to go back and re hunt all my old territory with those notches active. I always planned to anyway.

Chris

 

[Rosco Bookbinder]

[quote cwilk]
At least I know why I've never found an IH penny now. A good excuse to go back and re hunt all my old territory with those notches active. I always planned to anyway. Chris[/quote]

It's a trade off one way or the other. I get tired of digging pennies in the park. Tons of them. But, with them turned off I have found that some things I would have passed up. One really nice marked 925 ring I found hits right in the middle of pennies. I've found three IH's so far. I always run with five notches on the right and the one under nickle. That's in the custom mode (unless it's a very clean place then I'll run in jewelery mode). If you run coins mode it puts six notches on the right. Like some of the others have said here, don't notch, dig your hits and you'll get more good stuff..........