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Hi, Many thanks again for help with the farthing and apologies for sharing the photos before thoroughly inspecting the coin surface ! I guess I hadn't expected post mint damage to align so closely with the existing lettering or that Bronze could be so easily flattened I should have been more suspicious ! Like the 1893 penny below , where part of the 3 has been pushed to the left due to something heavy being dropped onto the surface

I think it is post mint damage, I'm afraid. With a bit of judicious photo editing (see below), I believe one can determine a suspiciously straight line running through the R and across Victoria's cheek, typical of a scuff. I have done it myself on occasions when metal detecting and scuffing a coin with my trowel (boo!). That would certainly account for the flattening of the letters.