I am very new to the world of coin collecting. I have the subject coin but am not sure if its a damaged coin or a mint error. How do I find out the answer?
It isn’t very much damaged. Any time you see raised metal, scrapes, and other things, you can almost with 100% assurity write it off as damage.
The diamond pattern is characteristic of a coin that was crushed in a bench vice. PMD = Post Minting Damage Worth $0.25
Ask yourself this, out of all the coins you've seen and handled how could this have occurred at the Mint?