Good afternoon, I recently rediscovered a coin I put away a year ago and forgot. I got this 1942 farthing at my local Walgreens when the woman at the register broke open a new roll of pennies. She put the change in my hand and I heard what sounded like a token. When I sat in my car I looked at it and thought, "WTF?" So after looking it up, it came to be a farthing which was cool since it was my first one I've ever received. I'm no stranger to finding world coins in my change (Canada, Italy, and Euro) but this one seemed different. It didn't sound like a bronze coin and it didn't weigh the amount it was suppose to. The only thing it had going was the diameter which was correct. Its suppose to weigh in between 2.75 and 2.95 grams. However, this one only weighs 1.6 grams which means that one gram and some change has vanished. It also has a stamp of the letter 'A' on the reverse. You can see its got all that green crud on it and its noticeable in the "A" stamp. I'm looking for someone's opinion since I'm no expert in world coins? Any ideas? Perhaps a counterfeit? Environmental damage? I used this site for information on the coin: http://www.allcoinvalues.com/united-kingdom/1942-uk-farthing-value2c-george-vi.html Thanks, Jeremy
"A" could be counterstamp. as for the missing weight, I can't think of any reason to counterfeit a farthing.
It brought me confusion all day yesterday. I had to put it up here for others opinions. Thanks for your reply Sam_raph, I'm with you. It's a head scratcher. The metal doesn't even sound right for bronze, when tapping it. One thing that crossed my mind is that it comes from WW2 era. So perhaps like the U.S. Coins (wartime nickel and steel penny) there was a shortage and used a different metal. However, all of them would be minted like that and on that webpage there were almost 29 million minted during 1942. That theory can easily go out the window. Then again, this coin could have been tested using a different metal for that time period in case of a shortage. Whatever it is, it will be eating at me the rest of the year. Maybe that's why I left it in a box, so I could forget it.
