What do you think this is?

I don't understand your statement. The photos I posted, from auctions, appear to show an "incision" (for lack of a better term) in the same location and of the same size and configuration as what is posted by ToughCoins. Why do you say "not even close?" Please explain.

 

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IMO, on the coins you posted (thanks for looking) the marks not the same in severity, style, or location. Therefore, I wrote they are not close. The moderator posted a coin with similar "scratch-like" lines in four different places. The shape of the tiny furrows looks similar to the image I posted only not as obvious.

QUOTE="ksparrow, post: 4979010, member: 7638"]Insider, do you believe the coin in the OP is scratched, or more likely the result of hub retouching?[/QUOTE]

Without ever seeing one of these coins in hand, I don't know what caused it. Retouching a hub is my best guess for now. I cannot get on to CU or I would ask the OP coins owner to send it to me. As for the image in the OP, I've gone from 100% scratch to 30% scratch and 70% other based on Toughcoins image.

 

OK, I will do some further analysis when I have time. Lighting and die states may have some impact on the appearance of the lesions. We can agree to disagree.
I like the approach of using %probability in these settings as things are rarely black/white Yay/Nay. I turned up another example from DLRC if you care to have a look:

 

Not sure if it helps but here's another 1926-D identical to the one I posted earlier, from Heritage - left side of feather, on the shoulder where it joins the neck, and apparent tripling on Liberty. Would they have engraved around the letters? You'll need a HA account to view the large image, but you can zoom way in.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/buffalo-ni...2016-25119.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

 

Nope. Nothing like the OP image. Thanks for looking.