Do you dig Zincolns:huh:

[Dimeman]

I had gotten a little lazy last year and was passing by those stinkin' Zincoln pennies in the parks I had hunted. :hairpulling:
I knew other items were in the same range but had gotten tired of all the corroded and new pennies that seemed to be everywhere. :shocked04:verreaction:

One club I belong to, had their annual hunt last month and one hunt (of the 3 separate hunts) reminded me of that specific range.

I had did an air test back in 2011 on some old pennies I had dug and some zincs and their numbers and ID icons were very similar. This year I had been going back to some of the parks that I was skipping the Zinc cents and decided to dig the targets with a Zinc reading.
(5 of these .925 rings were dug this year in the parks I returned to.)
I also retested some silver rings I had found also, and the results comfirmed what I had forgotten, because I got a bit lazy.

On my Fisher F5 and F70 all these items in the photo were in the Zinc penny range 55-62 on the numbers.
On the Garrett AT Pro they ALL were numbers 75-76.
On a Whites detector they ALL read from 55-58 on the VDI.

Passing on digging up those Zinc cents:huh: Good!!!!!! let me know where you have been, and I'll go dig the signals !!!!! ;)

[coinnut]

I don't get a lot of park hunting in, but when I do, I usually dig the first couple to see the depths. Then I only dig the deeper ones so I don't miss any Indians. I never worry about missing the gold rings since I never find them anyways lol

[Dimeman]

Some of the silver rings ring up the same as IH's and Zincs. Depending on thickness and the size and when the rings were lost---- they could be shallow in the dirt. The out of round silver ring that is in the top row of rings in the photo was 4 inches deep in the dirt. Not deep ........but was there for a while.

[POKIE73]

i find myself not digging a lot of real shallow penny signals they almost always are zincolns but you are right you never know if you dont dig by the way i use a e trac and it is very consistenton the pennys i have found a lot of small silver rings but no gold so maybe some could be masked like you say but in a lot of parks where we hunt you would dig all day for pennies so we skip some in hopes of getting the high tones dennis

[aloldstuff]

Very good question. I myself have some physical needs that will be attended to shortly so I have been very selective in what targets I dig.

I use a V3i and the zincolns VDI usually run up in the low 70's. The reason for my response is that the last time I was out I got one of those VDI's and seeing that I was not digging much I decided to dig it. Turned out to be a Seated 1/2 dime, 1854.

[coinnut]

Very good question. I myself have some physical needs that will be attended to shortly so I have been very selective in what targets I dig.

I use a V3i and the zincolns VDI usually run up in the low 70's. The reason for my response is that the last time I was out I got one of those VDI's and seeing that I was not digging much I decided to dig it. Turned out to be a Seated 1/2 dime, 1854.


Sometimes the type of location will make you dig more. But in reality, anything can be at any depth, anywhere, so digging it all is the only 100% way to be sure you don't miss anything.

[ChrisinCT]

I used to skip the zinc Lincoln's until the day I was out with Lee and he found a fatty IH that rang up just like a zinc 55 VDI.
Now I dig them all.

[z118]

I pretty much dig all signals, or at least as close to it as I can stand.

[Dimeman]

i find myself not digging a lot of real shallow penny signals they almost always are zincolns but you are right you never know if you dont dig by the way i use a e trac and it is very consistenton the pennys i have found a lot of small silver rings but no gold so maybe some could be masked like you say but in a lot of parks where we hunt you would dig all day for pennies so we skip some in hopes of getting the high tones dennis

By passing on the Zincs you could miss some of the smaller silver rings. Even if you search in the totlot or on dirt. Some of the rings were only a couple inches deep----missed by others because they read---Zinc cent.

[Coinshooter]

This is a great question. I have dug more Lincolns since October, My Pine tree 6 pence, rang in at 65 on my F75. Knowing now that silver will fall in this range I always dig Stinkin Lincolns, you never know what you will get.

[Tony Two-Cent]

There is no question that some desirable items can produce a signal like a Zincoln. Indian Head Cents as well as Half Dimes ring up just like Zincolns on the E-Trac, and I'm sure the same is true with other machines.

Whether or not I gig Zincoln signals depends on the type of site I'm hunting. If I'm in a target rich park I just can't justify retrieving Zincoln-like signals that are shallow. In my opinion, the return isn't worth the time you'd spend. My cut off point is about 3 inches. If I get a 12-37 signal on the E-Trac that is 3 inches deep or less I usually pass it up. There are exceptions to this, like when I'm hunting the bare dirt area at the base of a large tree. I have often found shallow Indian Heads at the base of trees.

Obviously if I were hunting a farm field I would dig all signals, or maybe if I were hunting a site that had few targets.

I like finding old items, I don't really care about modern jewelry. I realize that your mileage may vary and that's fine. :)

[Digger Don]

Hell, I dig them all

[robby4570]

On the beach, I dig it all. Of course a lot of the time, I'm swinging the PI but even with the Sov' I'll dig it all on the beach. On the few times I've done dirt fishin' I have dug everything but have doubted myself on a few that turned out to be good targets.

[Lowjiber]

In most parks, I don't dig 'em. I agree with the OP that I'm passing up some targets, but I'm willing to take that risk. It's a return-on-effort thing with me.

[Coinshooter]

In most parks, I don't dig 'em. I agree with the OP that I'm passing up some targets, but I'm willing to take that risk. It's a return-on-effort thing with me.

What would be the mimimum depth you would dig a penny at? I hear some say 3, some say 5. I take everything lol.

[freemindstuck]

I definitely dig them. On my detector the Stzincers show up with vdi's in the mid fifties. Other targets I've dug with the same vdi's are: gold rings, silver rings, indian heads, buttons, costume jewelry, and even rarely silver dimes, ect... . In the silver dime cases there usually was a piece or pieces of iron pulling the vdi down. I guess what I'm saying is that it's really impossible to really know what a target is till you dig it. Having said that in park situations I sometimes get lazy and pass them by.