indian head pennies and ryedales...

jnb1994

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Mar 26, 2012
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So I was just curious why some indian head pennies come out on the copper side and some come out on the zinc side. Did they change the composition of the IHP throughout the years? And is there any way to get all of them to come out on the copper side? I've found one of them so far while using my ryedale because I sort through the coppers for wheats but I don't even look at the zincs so there's a chance I could have missed some other good coins
 

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Eminem

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I believe some got more tin in them dawg. Perhaps dey get worn down so much da copper doesn't register.
 

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jnb1994

jnb1994

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Mar 26, 2012
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I just hate thinking of how many IHPs I could have missed because the darn machine can't pick them up. I already put magnets above the chute to catch the steels before they hit the comparitor but idk what could be done to get those sneaky indians
 

MIhunter

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Jun 29, 2011
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I don't have a ryedale, but others who do, re-run all of the zincolns thru with a zincoln as the coin to select for. Others have mentioned that older wheats sometimes get dumped with zincolns
 

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jnb1994

jnb1994

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Mar 26, 2012
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MIhunter said:
I don't have a ryedale, but others who do, re-run all of the zincolns thru with a zincoln as the coin to select for. Others have mentioned that older wheats sometimes get dumped with zincolns

Yup I noticed that too. Easier solution is to use an old wheat as the sample coin. I have a 1919 in there and I haven't found a single wheat with the zincs since, and all of the copper goes through just the same
 

jrf30

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May 7, 2006
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First off, your thinking is a little off. <<So I was just curious why some indian head pennies come out on the copper side and some come out on the zinc side>> there are two sides. A copper side, and a reject side. Not a zinc side. ANYTHING that is not the same as the copper goes to the reject side. That includes MOST wheats from 1942 back, plus 1943 steelies, Indian heads, and foriegn coins (Except canadian coppers, which go to the copper side since they are close enough to ours in composition).

Knowing that, here is what I do. First off, I do NOT run all the coins a second time. that wears the machine down faster, and for a mere one or two coins here and there. If I use that time running a new box instead, I find a lot more wheats from the new box, incuding old ones, rather than the one or two I might find in re-running the same box again by running the 80% that are rejects. The machine needs cleaned every 150,000 coins. Later it becomes every 100,000 coins. The parts need replaced down the road. I have six discs sitting here, all used up, for example. To do the work twice isn't worth it. Instead, WHILE I am running the Ryedale, I keep pouring my finds in the top, and watching the REJECT side with my eyes. Most rejects are shiny. Some are dark brown. Those I LOOK at, AS the machine is running. It is easy to do, fast, and you can flip the ones that land face up and see if they are a wheat or not. yes I DO get some older wheats in that reject side. Plus almost ALL the indian heads go to the reject side. So i watch there. I did some testing in the beginning, but saw that I got most of the wheat rejects as they came out. If I missed one coin every 10 boxes, even if it is a 1932 wheat (Arbitrary date, butone that would reject), it is not worth running the entire reject side again just for that one coin in ten boxes. If I run ten new boxes instead, I'll find that 1932 or equivilant in another box plus 90 more wheats of varying dates.

So don't run them twice. Use a 1981 as your comparitor coin. But keep your eyes peeled on the reject side and you'll find the ones that are keepers that go over there. remember - ONLY the older wheats and IHs go there. And they do NOT look like the 1996 that is brownish that goes there too. You'll see the differences pretty easily.

And your answer is yes, it is because the composition changed over the years. About 1944 the composition changed to the same as the 1981 you use as the comparitor. Some 1944 PHillies go to the reject side though, even though 1944 Denver goes to the copper side.
 

ArkieBassMan

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Dec 17, 2009
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First off, your thinking is a little off. <<So I was just curious why some indian head pennies come out on the copper side and some come out on the zinc side>> there are two sides. A copper side, and a reject side. Not a zinc side. ANYTHING that is not the same as the copper goes to the reject side. That includes MOST wheats from 1942 back, plus 1943 steelies, Indian heads, and foriegn coins (Except canadian coppers, which go to the copper side since they are close enough to ours in composition).

Knowing that, here is what I do. First off, I do NOT run all the coins a second time. that wears the machine down faster, and for a mere one or two coins here and there. If I use that time running a new box instead, I find a lot more wheats from the new box, incuding old ones, rather than the one or two I might find in re-running the same box again by running the 80% that are rejects. The machine needs cleaned every 150,000 coins. Later it becomes every 100,000 coins. The parts need replaced down the road. I have six discs sitting here, all used up, for example. To do the work twice isn't worth it. Instead, WHILE I am running the Ryedale, I keep pouring my finds in the top, and watching the REJECT side with my eyes. Most rejects are shiny. Some are dark brown. Those I LOOK at, AS the machine is running. It is easy to do, fast, and you can flip the ones that land face up and see if they are a wheat or not. yes I DO get some older wheats in that reject side. Plus almost ALL the indian heads go to the reject side. So i watch there. I did some testing in the beginning, but saw that I got most of the wheat rejects as they came out. If I missed one coin every 10 boxes, even if it is a 1932 wheat (Arbitrary date, butone that would reject), it is not worth running the entire reject side again just for that one coin in ten boxes. If I run ten new boxes instead, I'll find that 1932 or equivilant in another box plus 90 more wheats of varying dates.

So don't run them twice. Use a 1981 as your comparitor coin. But keep your eyes peeled on the reject side and you'll find the ones that are keepers that go over there. remember - ONLY the older wheats and IHs go there. And they do NOT look like the 1996 that is brownish that goes there too. You'll see the differences pretty easily.

And your answer is yes, it is because the composition changed over the years. About 1944 the composition changed to the same as the 1981 you use as the comparitor. Some 1944 PHillies go to the reject side though, even though 1944 Denver goes to the copper side.

I'm sure there is a good reason not to do this, but I've never seen it answered on this forum, and I have always wondered: why not use a zincoln as the comparitor coin? In theory all copper and IHs would go into the same bin. I assume the answer is that the composition of zincolns is "all over the place" and many zincolns end up in with the copper?
 

BillyOceansEleven

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May 6, 2011
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I'm sure there is a good reason not to do this, but I've never seen it answered on this forum, and I have always wondered: why not use a zincoln as the comparitor coin? In theory all copper and IHs would go into the same bin. I assume the answer is that the composition of zincolns is "all over the place" and many zincolns end up in with the copper?

I haven't taken the plunge with the Ryedale, but I have wondered the same thing. My thought is you want anything that isn't a zincoln, so using the zinc as your compare sends everything else to the "reject" bin. From there it would be a lot easier to pick out Wheats and IHs.
 

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