I found this 1909 Wheat Penny in a roll today. Saw something about bronze (or VDB I guess?) pennies from that year. According to my research, one of the ways to tell if it is bronze is with a magnet. I have used the strongest magnet in the entire house on this thing and it will not even try to stick to it. Are there any other tests that anyone knows of?
A VDB would be on reverse, 6 o'clock, bottom. Where the glare is. I do not see, but the glare makes it hard.
I'm not seeing a VDB on yours. Your coin is composed of 95% Copper - 5% Tin and Zinc. A magnet won't stick to it.
Straight from the PCGS website. Im here aslong how to figure it out though, I'm doing my own research while I wait for input but this place is a veritable font of info so I figure if I do both things I might have a better understanding.
I see where your confusion is coming from. All pennies prior to 1982 were bronze, except in 1943, when they made them out of steel. There is a very rare error where they accidentally made a 1943 penny out of bronze. That web site is showing you how to test for this rare bronze 1943 penny vs a faked copper plated steel penny. Don't worry about it, none of us will ever find one Since yours is from 1909, it will of course be bronze, as you found out. BTW, finding a 1909 cent in 2021 is pretty cool.
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts is your friend. It's a free online resource you can use whenever you have time for it. Can be very helpful especially for beginners. PCGS also has a Coinfacts app. As others have said, getting yourself a redbook will help. The information in there will give you a good amount of knowledge to help you start out. Also if you haven't figured out by now, your coin is made out of copper; which is a non-magnetic metal. The penny you posted is a 1909 no VDB (still a great roll find though!)
Very nice circulation find. That will be a great coin for your album. I strongly agree with @Kentucky recommendation about buying a Redbook. I would be willing to bet almost every experienced collector on this forum that started out collecting US coins got one early in their collecting career (and they probably still have their first copy, I do). It's the best $10-15 you'll ever spend on the hobby
