It looks like it is in relief in the images. I'm thinking that would require that a false die was used. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The guy didn't make very much after the time he spent altering It. The guy you bought it from, may not have been the one to alter it. He may have been the one trying to recoup some of his loss.
I would like to apologise to all here for my post. It was not my intention to deceive but since I was still in possession of this coin it is apparently exactly what I have done. I'm not going to pretend to recall the circumstances because honestly that is beyond my ability. Nor will I make any excuses, I cannot abide them. The fact is no matter what may have occurred I was still in possession of this coin and in my eyes that makes me a liar and I truly apologize to all here. I'm afraid that I cannot be a man of my word and destroy the coin. I recently posted it here again on another thread in which they were inquiring about counterfeit errors. I was approached by someone wishing to aquire the coin knowing full well what it was for educational use. I agreed to ship the coin to them among other false errors I had acquired at no cost as long as they were used to educate. So that being said the coin is no longer mine to destroy. Again I apologise to everyone here for my inaccurate and misleading post.
I think that a $3 learning opportunity might be a better investment than a Powerball ticket with the power-play. I think that there was good discussion amongst the members leading to other interesting research (e.g., the Hollow Coin articles/videos) which lend to how the subject coin could have been made. It is indeed...an educational piece.