1943 Copper Penny?

Thank you DVCollector. I can see in your picture that the 3 is definitely different. That's amazing! I at least now know that it's not the real thing.

The thing that is bizarre is that you found it in the ground...I mean what are the chances of finding a counterfeit 1943 copper penny around an old house, lol? Seems very strange, and maybe that's all there is to it, but some additional info (like the last time that house was lived in) might shed some light on it...if that house has been abandoned for decades, it would definitely make counterfeit less likely I would think. Although all the current signs point to it being fake unfortunately. There is one other possibility, the mint during ww2 was minting coins for other countries...perhaps that 3.9 grams matches one of the coins that was being minted, and they used a 1943 steel die for testing? There were quite a few foreign coins being made I think in 1944 and after, giving the correct time frame for that.