Here are the current pictures of a coin I bought in about 2004 in an OGH PCGS slab since. I believe it has most likely been puttied and has slowly changed in holder & will try to post the pictures if PCGS still has the original... Thoughts, and GTG?
When putty is mixed to be used on a gold coin, it is mixed to match the color of the coin surrounding the area to be puttied. That color by its nature is a shade of yellow or gold. And if it's done correctly it's almost impossible to see - even by the TPGs. Then, over time, as the putty dries out it often changes color, but changes to another shade of yellow or gold, sometimes a bit darker shade and sometimes a bit lighter shade, but still a shade of those two colors. This makes the putty visible. And, sometimes as the putty dries out the outer edges of the putty can begin to curl up a bit, also thus helping to make the putty visible. In looking at this coin I see no signs anywhere that it has been puttied. That doesn't mean it wasn't, just means I can't see any signs that it was. To find out for sure one way or another, send the coin back in to PCGS and pay to have them run it through the "sniffer". If it has been puttied, it will be detected. Detecting puttied gold coins is one of the primary reasons the sniffer was developed and is used by both NGC and PCGS - because they freely admit that they can't see it when it's first done.
The obverse does not look good to me. I think it has been puttied. Here is an example of a putted gold coin that has gone bad.
Doug described the what, but why would someone do this is also important. It's a method of doctoring a coin. By filling in any scratches, hits, or dings, and smoothing the coin out, you can make it look like a higher grade than it should be. In the case of this coin, I suspect that they wanted to minimize those long parallel lines across the face of the coin.
Yes, that is quite likely. They are very hard to see in hand but think they may be planchet prep lines - regardless I don't like coins mucked with, and will take it back to PCGS at the next "local" show. When I looked it up I on the PCGS search site there are no pictures of it any longer.
