INDIAN HEAD PENNIES AND THE COINCHECK

Before you decide to adjust your internal coin check control from factory pre-set, please consider the following rationale:

1. Pre-set coin check discriminates out zinc pennies and below which means Indian Heads (IH), but will accept almost all copper, silver and clad coins issued after the IH's, with exceptions of nickels and a few of the very oldest wheat pennies, which have lost their original conductivity due to corrosion from being in the ground many years.

2. When hunting at an old site containing IH's with MINIMAL modern trash (i.e., aluminum) normally I will use low discrimination (0 to 3), the same as relic hunting, and will recover all repeatable signals, especially the weaker and softer responses.

3. When hunting in an older site containing IH's and an ABUNDANCE of modern trash (i.e., aluminum) then the choices are to use low discrimination, 0 to 3, and dig all aluminum trash OR use higher discrimination, 7 to 7.3, which discriminates out most of the aluminum trash. At this discrimination level, the Shadow will pick up IH's, zinc pennies, and all other copper, clad and silver coins along with some screw caps (aluminum). I normally choose to use the higher discrimination level when there is an ABUNDANCE of modern trash except when jewelry hunting. But, to me, digging in the grass with modern trash at low discrimination is a no-no!!! (see item 6 for reasons)

4. To find IH's in an old area with an ABUNDANCE of modern trash, such as public parks, try this method. Set the discrimination control to 7 to 7.3. When a target is found, it will have the conductivity of an IH or above. Now use the coin check button! If the signal remains, the target will have the conductivity of a wheat or memorial penny and above. If the signal goes away with the coin check, then the probable targets are: zinc penny, screw cap or IH. Now, how do you improve your odds of digging IH's and not zinc pennies and screw caps? IH's have been in the ground almost 100 years, zinc pennies less than 20 years and screw caps less than 35. Which of the three targets will normally be deeper in undisturbed soil? Bingo!!! The IH will be much deeper in most cases and the Shadow will produce a much softer signal.

5. If you change the coin check control to accept IH's, then you will not be able to tell the difference between screw caps and modern coins. And yes, there is a world of screw caps out there.

6. Again, modern trash in the grass with low discrimination is a no-no for me. Trying to recover targets in the grass is much more time consuming than in the sand. Therefore, I limit my jewelry hunting to places where it is easy to recover targets, such as beaches, volleyball courts and playground sand pits. I will use low discrimination at all these places just like relic hunting.

7. Play the odds! You have X-number of minutes or hours each time you go hunting. Select your site! If it is grass with an ABUNDANCE of modern trash, then hunt for coins with high discrimination. If you want to hunt for jewelry, look for sand. These are the general guidelines I use for myself, but there are always exceptions.

8. I believe Fisher Laboratories published a study several years ago on the subject of recovered gold rings. I do not remember all the details, but I do remember a couple of things that really got my attention. They are: A) Gold rings have a conductivity range from tinfoil to a zinc penny, depending on size and alloy composition. B) Only 7% of the recovered gold rings fall within the notch discrimination of a nickel. C) This means that using notch discrimination to find nickels and gold rings and to eliminate round and square pulltabs, then you are automatically losing 93% of the gold rings and I do not like these odds. Especially in the grass.

I hope this information makes sense to you and that you will give this rationale an honest try before deciding to readjust the coin check control. It works for me consistently and I believe it will work for you.

Remember to pay most of your attention to the softer signals.

Troy Galloway