Why dig all them Pennies.

[Sandman]

Seven Reasons to Dig PenniesI | Detecting365 Metal Detecting Magazine Ya gotta read this!

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

I like it!

Would be more inclined if they hadn't gone to a copper/cardboard alloy for the Zincolns.

Now I only dig pre-82. ;-)

 

[sandswimmer]

Never pass up a penny TID on the beach, Two times it was a big class ring and once an 19g 18k ring.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

sandman, that link is over-generalizing, IMHO. I mean, for example, in the "reason # 3" the author points out that certain civil war items (or plates that are very deep, etc...) can give a penny signal. Well duh. But that's a different ball-game altogether. In situations like that (CW hunting) a person is OBVIOUSLY going to be in relic-mindset.

And I would like to tackle the other reasons as being unique to "just a certain type hunting", but .... instead, let me give a counter-reason of how it's sometimes good to pass pennies:

We had a storm erosion belt on a beach near me earlier this year. For 5 glorious days, targets were as fast as you cared to dig. All the light stuff was washed away, so there was zero aluminum. In fact there wasn't even any zinc pennies! (since those are lighter weight coins, they were all washed out, leaving the heavier items only).

The first day, I treated it in "beach mindset" . Afterall, sometimes a real fat big man's ring can read up near the penny range, right ? Afterall "pennies and dimes add up", right ? Afterall, they might be masking a lower conductor gold ring, right ? Blah blah blah.

When I got home from the first day, and spread my 250-ish coins out on the table, naturally 80+ were memorial pennies and 80+ were clad dimes. Then nickels and quarters, etc... for a total of about 250-ish coins. And my total gold ring count was 1 or 2 (this isn't a particularly touristy beach, so the ring ratios are a tad lower). Only a few of the coins were silver or wheat pennies (and were toasted anyhow by the salt). So angling for old silver was hardly worth it, as the ratios to clad to find a silver dime were on the order of 100 to 1.

So in the ensuing days, I had to make a decision: I knew that this pocket would only last a few more days before sanding in. I knew that there was no "strip-mining" to "get them all", because you NEVER LACKED for signals to choose from, and were simply chased back out by the tide, waves, etc... Thus I realized that I could

a) spend precious digging time getting pennies/dimes. Of which VERY FEW LARGE MEN'S gold rings read as high as copper penny. Zinc? Yes perhaps. But copper penny/dime ? The ratios of actual pennies you'd dig, before EVER getting a man's ring that pegged right on copper penny, would be staggeringly poor.

or

b) Play the "Las Vegas odds" and pass penny/dime (and even quarter!). And angle strictly for zinc and downwards (since there was no zinc appearing). Hence the only copper penny/dime signals I dug were pennies/dimes worn thin, hence reading down to zinc'ish.

The results were well worth it. My coin count dropped to 100-ish (of which most were nickels, of course, + the thin dimes/pennies that read lower). And my gold ring count went up to 4 to 7 per day, for the remaining days of this pocket's existence.

So in a case like that, where you "can't have the best of both worlds", it goes to show there IS times where it's wiser to "pass pennies".

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Never pass up a penny TID on the beach, Two times it was a big class ring and once an 19g 18k ring.

I'm going to guess the "penny" signal you're referring to, was about zinc penny, not copper penny, right ?

 

[cudamark]

I'll scoop zinc reading targets at the beach, but, not in a junky park unless they're right on top the ground. I've gotten some nice silver and gold jewelry by scooping "zinc".

 

[BigWaveDave]

Or.. if you are a young buck like me, and don't have 50 years of experience, the advice in the article is appreciated, and helpful.

 

[TerryC]

I need the exercise. The more I bend over, the more exercise I get. But..... could not talk the doctor into writing a metal detector prescription! TTC

 

[The Urban Prospector]

I dig em outta water and tot lots....that's it. Out of the hundreds upon hundreds I have unearthed, I have only been surprised "one" time with a tiny sterling pendant. I joyfully pass those zincolns in the hard dirt. On another note, I used to get discouraged digging all those pull tabs. Now I get excited knowing the area has probably not been hunted for gold. Go figure, pass a penny to dig a pull tab...

 

[hugoborchardt]

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I must admit, being land-locked in Middle TN and Middle Mississippi for the last 30 something years, I have little experience beach hunting and understand that's a different animal. I've re-categorized the article to coin shooting and relic hunting! My mindset when writing the article was primarily to generate a positive spin on digging pennies, which can get pretty aggravating when relic hunting, and when coin shooting for silver. There are certainly instances when I might pass on digging penny signals - when attempting to cherry-pick a virgin site for silver, for example. Or maybe hunting a concession stand area where they are everywhere. If a site is static (not like a beach that is constantly changing) and is productive enough for me to hunt a lot, I'm going to get the pennies out of there, hopefully clearing the way for deeper stuff, and maybe get lucky with a good surprise non-penny. Thanks again and good luck out there! - Clark Rickman

 

[ASE]

Being brand-new to all of this, thanks for the link! It led me to a couple of coin price guides that I didn't know about that has already helped me quite a bit.

 

[releventchair]

sandman, that link is over-generalizing, IMHO. I mean, for example, in the "reason # 3" the author points out that certain civil war items (or plates that are very deep, etc...) can give a penny signal. Well duh. But that's a different ball-game altogether. In situations like that (CW hunting) a person is OBVIOUSLY going to be in relic-mindset.

And I would like to tackle the other reasons as being unique to "just a certain type hunting", but .... instead, let me give a counter-reason of how it's sometimes good to pass pennies:

We had a storm erosion belt on a beach near me earlier this year. For 5 glorious days, targets were as fast as you cared to dig. All the light stuff was washed away, so there was zero aluminum. In fact there wasn't even any zinc pennies! (since those are lighter weight coins, they were all washed out, leaving the heavier items only).

The first day, I treated it in "beach mindset" . Afterall, sometimes a real fat big man's ring can read up near the penny range, right ? Afterall "pennies and dimes add up", right ? Afterall, they might be masking a lower conductor gold ring, right ? Blah blah blah.

When I got home from the first day, and spread my 250-ish coins out on the table, naturally 80+ were memorial pennies and 80+ were clad dimes. Then nickels and quarters, etc... for a total of about 250-ish coins. And my total gold ring count was 1 or 2 (this isn't a particularly touristy beach, so the ring ratios are a tad lower). Only a few of the coins were silver or wheat pennies (and were toasted anyhow by the salt). So angling for old silver was hardly worth it, as the ratios to clad to find a silver dime were on the order of 100 to 1.

So in the ensuing days, I had to make a decision: I knew that this pocket would only last a few more days before sanding in. I knew that there was no "strip-mining" to "get them all", because you NEVER LACKED for signals to choose from, and were simply chased back out by the tide, waves, etc... Thus I realized that I could

a) spend precious digging time getting pennies/dimes. Of which VERY FEW LARGE MEN'S gold rings read as high as copper penny. Zinc? Yes perhaps. But copper penny/dime ? The ratios of actual pennies you'd dig, before EVER getting a man's ring that pegged right on copper penny, would be staggeringly poor.

or

b) Play the "Las Vegas odds" and pass penny/dime (and even quarter!). And angle strictly for zinc and downwards (since there was no zinc appearing). Hence the only copper penny/dime signals I dug were pennies/dimes worn thin, hence reading down to zinc'ish.

The results were well worth it. My coin count dropped to 100-ish (of which most were nickels, of course, + the thin dimes/pennies that read lower). And my gold ring count went up to 4 to 7 per day, for the remaining days of this pocket's existence.

So in a case like that, where you "can't have the best of both worlds", it goes to show there IS times where it's wiser to "pass pennies".

I call that cherry pickin. Not necessarily a bad thing in high target areas.
In high target areas, no where near your example though! I do that on occasion.
The risks are weighed; same as in your case.
When in a low target area more can be extracted for the next pass's efficiency and double checking after a recovery.
Don't always know what's below non desired targets, but the risks must as always be weighed against the number of targets and amount of ground covered desired.

 

[RobRieman]

My Trime and my Seated Half Dime both came in as a zinc penny signal. Just depends on the location wether you dig or not.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

My detector lied to me!!!! It told me I had a zinc penny when in fact I had this.

 

[Sandman]

View attachment 1206503 My detector lied to me!!!! It told me I had a zinc penny when in fact I had this.

This is why displays suck. But you could only dig Quarters.

 

[TerryC]

This is why displays suck. But you could only dig Quarters.

I've been saying for years and years.... dump the display... LEARN THE SOUND! Using a display, and other so called shortcuts, only causes most to backslide. You learn little when depending on these extras. The better detectorists go by the SOUND, not the DISPLAY. Incidentally, Sandman, detectors are incapable of lying. They just GUESS at the target based on incoming data and the state of its circuitry. TTC

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Goes both ways really. I've dug thousands of targets that sounded great and where junk. I've dug targets that sounded horrible but looked good on my screen and where great. Just dig if repeatable.

 

[Sandman]

Displays are for the ones that want it easy an don't care if they are lied too.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Let us not all exaggerate. Everything plays a role in digging and not digging. Sound, numbers, repeatability, depth, location, soil, instinct, skill level, type of target wanted, etc. all play a part. If all I listened to was sound then I would hunt with a PI exclusively. I give ALOT of credit to the guys that use Tesoros, but then maybe all they do is coin shoot?

 

[TerryC]

Displays are for the ones that want it easy an don't care if they are lied too.

Displays are for the "plug and players". TTC