Damaged. That is a nasty scratch. Over the years of being in circulation the roughness of the scratch smoothed out. Not an error.
When you get a coin like this, look at the overall condition. If it is discolored or shows a lot of bumps and nicks or has heavy wear, there's a high probability that it's been damaged after it left the mint. Keep looking. The more you look at, the more experience and knowledge you'll build. Also look at some of the error sites that people have linked on CT. The info on these sites is amazing (compared to what was available when I started over 40 years ago)
