As already mentioned, just damage from someone carving initials into the obverse. It happened more in the earlier years than now-a-days, for some reason. There are entire web sites, clubs, and groups that collect and log such things. Here is one of those sites; http://richhartzog.com/art/cma.htm Mind you, your coin has initials scratched into it, whereas a counter stamped coin has a die stamp struck into the surface.