Indian Head vs Copper Lincoln Mystery

Iron Buzz

Bronze Member
Oct 12, 2016
1,722
2,347
South St Paul, MN
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Minelab Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
1864 - 1909 Indian Head Penny : 95% copper, 5% zinc, 3.11 grams
1909 - 1982 Copper Lincoln Cent : 95% copper, 5% zinc, 3.11 grams
1982 - 2014 Zinc Lincoln Cent: 97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper, 2.5 grams

So... why do those Indian Heads ring up with the same ID as a zinc penny? On my XP Deus at 18K, a copper Linc reads 90-91. An Indian Head and a Zincoln both read 85-87. Why?
 

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Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
..... refined to 99.98% purity (even more pure than Ivory Soap) before it is acceptable for many electrical applications.".....

Well, maybe for "electrical applications" that "99.98% purity" needs to be true. But perhaps not for coin manufacture ?

If you don't buy my explanation, then how about this: "little green gremlins alter the TID of coins" . And to further complicate the conspiracy: There are lizard people in the government who control the media so that no one can figure out the conspiracy. Hey, after all, you haven't heard of this . SO IT MUST BE WORKING ! Sssshhh, don't tell anyone .
 

bigscoop

Gold Member
Jun 4, 2010
13,373
8,689
Wherever there be treasure!
Detector(s) used
Older blue Excal with full mods, Equinox 800.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I don't know if this is going to apply or not but in recent weeks I have been learning "a ton" of new and interesting things regarding different responses from similar metals and I am convinced that this is a combination of many factors that includes everything from swing speeds to the machines being used and everything else in between. Now I've been employing two machines in recent weeks, the Sov Gt. and the Excal and I can't even begin to tell you how necessity has forced a great of this upon me, the conditions I'm facing now vastly different then those conditions I had grown use to on the beaches in Florida. Today I hunt nothing as I was hunting in Florida, my entire routine and settings forced to take on drastic change even though I am using the same machines. It has been a real eye opening experience, to say the least. Prior to this change in location I couldn't tell the difference between a zinc, copper penny, etc, but I sure as heck can today. I can almost say the same thing about a corroded nickel and a clean one, the old stale pulltab and the new one, etc., a nickel from these pulltabs. Is this relevant to the topic of this thread? Maybe, maybe not? But I'm using no meter, which begs to wonder what might happen for you in regards to your vdi readings if you tried applying different swing speeds and settings to each of the various coins in question? Would these vdi readings experience change? Might be an interesting study? :dontknow:
 

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