French 10 centimes 1856 Paris mint, counterstamped with the words EMPIRE THEATRE and in the other side IMMENSE SUCCESS.

These advertising pieces, used around 1884, were counterstamped on the obverse and reverses of French 10 centimes pieces of a wide variety of dates between 1852 and 1872 and (more rarely) Italian and Luxemburgish coppers of the same size. They were used because the use of British coins for this purpose had been declared to be an illegal defacement. The words can be of a variety of typefaces, sizes and either straight or curved. J Gavin Scott, British Countermarks on Copper & Bronze Coins, 1975, p. 124-5.

Withers Token Book 3  page 102, 754