Interesting small coin with possible cyrillics [solved]

Can anyone please help to identify a badly damaged coin with some (presumably) cyrillics? Images are provided below. The coin is circular, 12-13mm in diameter, 2.5mm thick, there seems to be an inscription possibly saying "ВАРШАВ 1918" with a buttony cross in the middle. The obverse appears to be a double-headed eagle with a sword/mace in one of the talons, and a globe in another. The material should be lead based on its softness and weight (3.5 g), oxidizing into a white powder.
Many thanks in advance for any help :)

Maybe it says "ВАРШАВА" - Warsaw (Poland)?

That is my assumption, but why it would be in cyrillics and what kind of coin it would be, I have no idea :)

It may be made out of lead...

And Poland became independent in 1918 (another interesting point).

Quote: dptashnyIt may be made out of lead...

And Poland became independent in 1918 (another interesting point).

probably emergency coinage...

Quote: PeterRetThat is my assumption, but why it would be in cyrillics and what kind of coin it would be, I have no idea :)

if you wish, i could swap it.

Some kind of emergency zinc coinage from WWI. A number of european nations minted coins in zinc during the world wars.

Could be... or, perhaps, if it's not cyrillics, then the inscription would be something to the effect of "BAPMAH", "BAPMAB" or "BAP IV AH" / "BAP IV AB"...

Update: I was playing around with the coin a bit, used a pencil and a paper, and more of the obverse design became obvious. It appears to be a double-headed eagle with a sword/mace in one of the talons, and a globe in another. The material is definitely lead based on its softness and weight. As for the reverse, there seems to be a buttony cross in the middle.

Maybe its a lead seal ... does it have holes at 12 and 6 'o clock?

Not holes per se, but there are indentations  at 12 and 6 o'clock on the obverse reaching half through the coin's /seal's thickness. There also seems to be kind of a central grove on the same side between the two indentations.

Peter,
I almost immediately got this "déjà vu" (pardon my French) feeling about your piece and I was almost sure that it has something to do with the mail and postal service. And yes, I was right...
This item is not really a coin but is  a mail seal made out of lead and used to seal the bags with the mail while sending them by railway from one city to another. And it explains the indentation on the rim - it's where the rope came through the seal. Yes, it says Варшав (Варшава = Warsaw) and has the coat of arms of the Polish Kingdom under Russian tzar - see that coat of arms below. Below is also a picture of more or less the same seal but in readable condition. The year though is rather 1878 than 1918 - Poland was occupied by Austrian-German troops in 1915 and couldn't use the seals with the Russian imperial symbols in 1918.

Wow, thank you so much This is absolutely it :)
I've added the seal to the numista catalogue, crediting you with the identification, if you don't mind (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces74630.html)  
I wonder what journey the piece of lead must have taken to get to my parents' attic :)
Anyway, once again, many thanks for the ID, it's awesome :)

Peter,
The way of this seal to your place might be rather simple.   I am sure that  back in 1878 there was quite a number of Polish immigrants in your area and there  was an established postal service between Poland and at least some cities of South Africa (though it seems that Johannesburg  itself appeared a bit later). So the seal might have come directly from Warsaw to some place near you and was saved by someone just because it was rather unusual thing...

And just to wrap up this story: the letter from Poland to South Africa in 1878 would come with the stamp exactly like this one from my collection  - 8 kopek is for the international letter, and the postmark is definitely the one from Warsaw though the last digit of the year is missing ...