The i in In and the T in TRUST are almost non-existent, so my question is have they been polished off or struck through
I would say that the outer edge of the face of a coin is a common area for debris "grease" to build up and cause missing details. If they are Dressed off (polished) while cleaning the die the face surface of the coin will be at different levels where die material has been removed.
Need to the see the entire coin. It may have been polished, the mint may have extended the life of the die and it may just be grease in the die. Without full sized photos of both sides snd the entire coin we may never be able to say.
