Usually, if you are finding wheat pennies while metal detecting, they can help indicate the age of an area that you are hunting. Wheat Pennies can sometimes indicate the presence of Silver coins also. If I am finding wheat pennies, I get excited because I know that there is a chance that silver coins may still be there for me to find.
Once I start finding wheaties, I slow down my walking pace and my swing speed. I hunted a field about 15 times, and each time I found a wheat penny or two. The oldest penny out of that field was a 1910 wheat penny. I found several wheaties from 1910,1919, 1930s through the 1950s, but for some reason I wasn’t finding any silver coins.
Eventually though, I did find a 1948 Roosevelt Dime in the same general area where I had found all of the wheat pennies. I mention that because it took over ten hunts before I was able to find silver in that field! The wheat pennies told me that there was a real good chance that there might be some silver in the ground, and there was!
The next time you find a wheat penny, slow down your swing speed and tighten up your over-lap on your swings, and you might be rewarded with a silver coin or two!
So, what’s your opinion? Do you enjoy finding wheat pennies while metal detecting?
Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Ozarks
Metal Detecting the Ozark Mountains 
I love finding them however they can’t replace silver.
I like ’em too!
anything is better than clad! lol.
i actually love finding wheat pennies. although the rarest one i’ve even found wasn’t even while detecting – it was in my change at dunkin donuts! 1909 vdb which i believe was the very first version of the wheat penny.
Hec yeah, still looking for my VDB! lol Appreciate your comment!
Wheat pennies for me are like weeds. As you mentioned in your blog you averaged twenty five wheat pennies to one silver coin. I agree that they are a great indicator of the age range of coins that might be found in the area your hunting and that isn’t a bad thing. However I prefer to find Indian Head pennies in an area that I am hunting.
I agree, just wish I could find an indian head penny! True though, I don’t find silver everywhere that I find wheat pennies, not even close…lol Guess I need to run down some older areas and get into some indian head pennies. That would be exciting! Appreciate your input bud!
Hoping to find an Indian Head soon!
I have a park where I find a dozen wheats everytime I hunt there. It can be a little frustrating. However, at other sites, wheats are an exciting find. Especially the early wheats. Somebody else re-defined the old adage of “where there are wheats, there is silver’ to ‘where there are EARLY wheats there is silver’. His logic was that late wheats were in circulation long after silver coins had disappeared from our daily change, so finding late wheats doesn’t always translate into finding silver coins. Something to think about…
Some very good points! Interestingly, the one silver dime I found was in the same area that I found the older wheaties. Thanks for sharing!