I have found and purchased a few counter stamped U.S. large cents. And I believe that 1 I have deciphered. It has to do with the Germans occupation of " Gent " actually is spelled " Ghent in Belgium. " The Germans issued occupation money 1915 1919 1 franc there is a coin with the design the. " l f " meaning 1 franc. The counterstamped digits look like the same shape as the German issued franc. Any ideas?
I doubt that would have anything to do with the German occupation of Belgium, a century after that host coin was struck (though of course old coins sometimes did get counterstamped much later). I'm more of the opinion that that was likely someone's initials. I think any resemblance to the WW1-era counterstamps you mention is purely coincidental. I get much more of an early-19th century vibe off this one. I think it is pretty closely contemporary to the host coin.
