An 1811 Douglas Bank Token With Something Of A Story To Tell.

@Spence .... I can see how it does look life an AE ligature. There are numerous tiny hits present, that do give this appearance. There are two reasons I believe it's a month and day, A 16. There's the correspondingly positioned year, 1824. Then, too, if an E is present, it's not as deeply impressed as all the rest of the engraved letters.

I tried to find a connection between John Hughes and engraved coins, but no luck. If it was the same bloke, John was in his thirties in 1824. That's about the age he might have been father to a young child.

I've seen some examples of these large coppers having been transformed into trench art. Also, I've owned many a counterstamped copper. The use of this token as a learning tool is quite intriguing to me. The signature personalizes the piece and puts it in the love token category, I'd say.

@alganbagerap .... Thanks for that info! Lesson learned!

While it could well could read as such, I've closely examined the piece and can't be assured the Æ is present. The interpretation makes sense though. That said, the name "John Hughes" was fairly common, I found. One of the candidates I suspected was born in 1790.

If it was a "John H," why not use the middle initial? Speaking as a decades-long counterstamp collector, it's been my experience that most everyone who had a middle initial utilized it; and, sometimes more than one middle initial. Its use would obviously set them apart from others with similar names.

It's noteworthy that, back then, handwriting and calligraphy were school subjects. A good hand set a man or woman apart. So, good handwriting was a skill to be cultivated.