Anyone care to speculate on if this is a repunched date? Looking for a second opinion or ten. The U an N in United have the same look as the date. I found it and a 1905 and 07 all with full Liberty in a eBay Roll. Designer's intial intact as well.
lol.. Nope.. no cleaning... I really don't think it is a repunched date... I'm leaning more towards die deterioration.
When I first looked at it, it looked like a RPD, but as I look at the "repunch", the theory got hard to hold. I agree with your deterioration, especially on the "9" and the "3". Possible there is some machine doubling as I think I can see some very minor effect on the denticles and the base of the bust, that accentuates the deterioration. IMO. Jim