1859 Canadian Large Cent

[jamesabrt]

I found an 1859 large cent that is in such good shape that you can see the strands of hair on the Queens head and the berries on the wreath of leaves on her head. on the reverse, you can see the veins in the leaves of the wreath that goes around the outer edge of the coin. On the 1859 date the 9 is just a bit lower than the rest of the numbers.
I think the coin is in excellent condition, especially for being 150 years old, and I believe it's brass because it doesn't have the brown color of copper and it also doesn't have the patina of bronze. I'd like to know if someone knows how to tell for sure if it's brass.
I'll appreciate any help that anyone may be able to provide me, or any other information about the coin.
I have to run an errand that can't be put off, but if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll relate the story of how I found the coin.

 

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[Mackaydon]

Your coin is composed of bronze and weighs 3.24 grams. It is the second year of issue and there are four varieties of 1959 one cent pieces; one is especially valuable--over $1,000 in MS-60.
Total mintage of that year approximated 10M pieces.
A high res. pic would help others here (not me) tell you which variety you have and its estimated value.
Don....

 

[Iron Patch]

Very unlikely you have a brass one but to be sure you can take a pin and just give the middle of the edge a little scrach to see if it's bright yellow. Would be well worth proving but as I said I highly doubt it will be.

The only other process is to take the specific gravity, a somewhat complicated process given the high level of accuracy required.