My Grandkids got me a roll of old coins which contained 24 Indian Head cents. They range from1889 to1908. There is one that is very corroded and looks like road rash so pretty much just put it to the side. When I had it sitting on scope plate next to a couple of other Indian cents it looked larger. Even with all the scraped edges. I weighed three coins and the two clear dates weighed 29gr. and 31gr. Where as the older one weighs 42 grams Could this be a 1859 wreath only?
That's exactly what it is. I'm not sure what units your scale is measuring -- it's saying 0.029 grams for the other coins, which is obviously not right. But the earliest Indian cents were a copper-nickel alloy, and were heavier and thicker than later bronze cents. As minted, they weighed 4.67g. The later ones weighed 3.11g.
From 1859 - mid 1864. Indian cents were made from 88% copper and 12% nickel (same as the flying eagle) and weighed 4.67 gms. The are often called white cents due to the color. You can tell it's an 1859 because there is no shield on the top if the reverse (one year only type) All of this information is in the Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins). It has a lot of good info and if you don't already have one, it will be the best $10-15 you'll ever spend on the hobby
