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Wheat Penny Respect


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Thought I would show the Wheat Penny a little respect today and post my finds..  The lowly Wheat Penny is usually only givin credit to be an indicator of possible silver in the area, so we are happy to dig them..  Today was a no silver kind of day but a couple of Wheat Pennies helped save my otherwise lackluster hunt..  I had a moment of excitement when I saw a 1914 on one of my Wheats with a little mint mark on it..I was hoping I had finally found the rare 1914 D.. After I pulled out my magnifying glass I realized it was a San Francisco Mint version which is still a respectable semi key date coin at just over 4 million mintage..  I also found semi key date 13 S Wheat at just over 6 million mintage..  Other Wheats found today were 1911, 1925 S, 1928 S and three Wheats from the mid 40s..  The two Semi key date Wheats are probably worth far more then any silver I might have found today so I thought I would show them off..  

The Equinox did a great job finding these today..  A couple of them were real close to iron or had iron in the hole with them.. This area has been hit multiple times with my CTX, E-Trac and friends V3i.. Only thing left is the tough signals..

Bryan

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Nice finds. I get excited everytime I find a wheat penny. I sold a 1909 V.D.B. penny for $35 a cpl of years ago. There is something about a wheat penny that reminds me of my childhood when pennies could buy candy

 

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Those wheats are in great shape Bryan.  It is rare I find one is as good condition as any of those in my area.  I found two wheats yesterday that I could only decipher the 'x94x" on one and the "1x5x " on the other.  I'm with you though.  Yes, wheats are a good indicator for other possible finds, but they are great coins in their own right :).  Good post!!  :) Tim

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This location I hunted yesterday was pretty kind to the Wheats..  One trend that I have noticed is that the older Wheats tend to hold up much better then the ones from the 40s and 50s..  You can see in the bottom photo that a couple of the Wheats in the top row from the mid 40s and the 28 S have some corrosion on them.. 

I figure it’s either a depth factor or coin composition factor.. I tend to lean to the composition of the coin being the difference  since the early Wheats and Indian Head cents have a lower ID then the later Wheats.. 

 Bryan

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6 minutes ago, Cabin Fever said:

I tend to lean to the composition of the coin being the difference  since the early Wheats and Indian Head cents have a lower ID then the later Wheats.. 

That makes sense.

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On 4/12/2018 at 3:34 AM, Cabin Fever said:

The two Semi key date Wheats are probably worth far more then any silver I might have found today so I thought I would show them off.

Absolutely.  Those early mintmarked Lincolns (1915 and earlier) are great finds.  Nice going.

On 4/12/2018 at 1:13 PM, Cabin Fever said:

I figure it’s either a depth factor or coin composition factor.. I tend to lean to the composition of the coin being the difference  since the early Wheats and Indian Head cents have a lower ID then the later Wheats.

Interesting hyphothesis.  Pretty sure all US pennies from late 1864 to early 1982 are 95% copper (with the obvious exception of 1943 zinc coated steel).  However, the last 5% can vary among tin, zinc, or both.  Recent years have been zinc.  Maybe those with tin hold up better.

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Those wheat cents are in great shape. Chris Gholson and I just returned from a  productive relic hunt with the 
Nox and recovered a bunch of wheat cents. I haven't even looked at all of mine yet for dates and MMs. After your post I'm gonna go do just that. Thanks!

Dean

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It's got to be a soil thing or a fertilizer thing or both. Here are 50 recent wheatback digs from Reno parks. It takes me some work just to read the date on most of them. Something about the soil here is not kind to copper pennies or nickels. Silver comes out of the ground nearly as clean as the day it was dropped thankfully.

Click for larger version...

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These are my wheats since around August of 2017. Some I can read easy out of the ground but most are just too hard to clean up so I just throw them in here. I have no idea how many are in the glass jar but any one of them could have been a smokin' silver coin. 

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Warning! This cleaning tip might destroy the value of your coin.  Here is how I clean my pennies..

There’s little hope for the rusty orange ones.. Those are usually what my Wheats from the 40s -50s look like.. The older green or brown ones that aren’t bubbly can usually clean up pretty nice..

The first thing I do is rinse off the loose dirt with just water.. NO detergents.. Then I will use a big pink eraser to see if I can rub the remaining dirt off..  If the grime won’t budge I heat up some 3% Hydrogen Peroxide In a glass cup using the microwave.. You want to get it to a boil to work best.. Drop the penny in Peroxide and it will start fizzing..  Try to keep it in there no longer then you need to.  It will darken the penny..  I usually give it a minute or two and test it.. If the grime rubs off with the eraser easily,  your good.. Some pennies will have to go back in and soak for around 5 minuets.. 

Again, cleaning coins can wreck their value.. Use your own judgment on weather to use this method, especially on key date coins.. 

Speaking of key dates.  Here is my most valuable Wheat Penny.. If I remember correctly, it cleaned up with just an eraser and didn’t need the Peroxide bath..

Bryan

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