Question...

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,005
17,113
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Detectors don't know metals from one another other than ferric vs. non-ferric. They just go by conductivity and eddy currents generated by the coil field and compare returns to preprogrammed parameters. A pre-1982 cent is pretty close to a clad dime in conductivity.
 

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Woodswoman

Woodswoman

Sr. Member
Aug 7, 2013
277
110
Indiana
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Quick Draw I I
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Detectors don't know metals from one another other than ferric vs. non-ferric. They just go by conductivity and eddy currents generated by the coil field and compare returns to preprogrammed parameters. A pre-1982 cent is pretty close to a clad dime in conductivity.

Umm, I understood about half of that which tells me what a beginner I am. Guess I better do some more homework. Thank you so much. And thanks for your patience.
 

cudamark

Gold Member
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Mar 16, 2011
13,256
14,656
San Diego
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1
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3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Detectors don't know metals from one another other than ferric vs. non-ferric. They just go by conductivity and eddy currents generated by the coil field and compare returns to preprogrammed parameters. A pre-1982 cent is pretty close to a clad dime in conductivity.
Add to that some oxidation or corrosion to create a halo effect around the target, and you can get all sorts of readings. I just dug a Zincoln that read the same as a nickel/tab/gold ring! Got it out of the ground and it was totally encrusted. If I run it through the tumbler it will probably disappear into a pile of sand!
 

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
Charlie is right: pennies (the pre-zinc ones anyhow) read very close to dime. If you have a super refined TID scale, like some machines have, you can see a slight difference in the way they read. But it's very hard to get that difference in the ground. So you can't really cherry-pick clad dimes vs clad pennies.

Sometimes wheat pennies that have been buried a long time, skew a bit lower than clad dimes on the TID though.
 

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Woodswoman

Woodswoman

Sr. Member
Aug 7, 2013
277
110
Indiana
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Quick Draw I I
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Charlie is right: pennies (the pre-zinc ones anyhow) read very close to dime. If you have a super refined TID scale, like some machines have, you can see a slight difference in the way they read. But it's very hard to get that difference in the ground. So you can't really cherry-pick clad dimes vs clad pennies.

Sometimes wheat pennies that have been buried a long time, skew a bit lower than clad dimes on the TID though.

Thanks for that info !
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
On several of my detectors the indication for a dime shows dime/penny (copper). zinc pennies show just under that. As far as the detector circuits go, the two coins are so close they can't readily separate one from the other.
luvsdux
 

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