Counterstamped or machined penny. What is it?

[coinpictures]

Got this in the mail today. After spending time examining the coin extensively with both

a 10x loupe and my USB microscope, I'm pretty convinced the third farthing image is

counterstamped and not machined. This would imply that whomever did the counterstamp

had one of the third farthing dies.

From the full coin shots, it looks like there might be a gap between the counterstamp

and the host coin, meaning the penny could have been machined and a plug with

the third farthing reverse inserted, but I cannot actually detect any gap, hence my

including the closeup shots taken via microscope. You can see that there are no seams

between the counterstamp and the host.

If it was machined and plugged, the tolerances used were very tight.

Definitely weird. But cool...

[coinpictures]

[coinpictures]

[HistoricCoinage]

So it was YOU that outbid me!

A very nice coin that intrigued me, hence my small bid.

Great photos by the way!

Clive.