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First nobody can with any level of competence answer your question, without any photos how are we supposed to know what a "ding" represents to you. What you call a ding could be the grand canyon or something so insignificant that it requires an electron microscope to see. And second MS66 is not a perfect grade, a few minor bag marks are not unusual at this grade level. It is also not unusual to see some planchet marks that may not have been fully struck out at the time of coining. These are often seen as small chicken scratch marks on the area of the shoulder of the bust, these marks are found even on many MS67 graded examples. If you don't like the coin return it and stop buying unless you can see the coin in hand.

Welcome to the forum, your coin did not leave the mint looking like this. At some time in the past the coin was subjected to multiple forms of abuse including the silver paint or plating you see on the rev. As well as some type of grinding or sanding that removed most of the rev details, poor coin was just trying to do its job as a warrior of commerce.

Well it sounds like there will be some form of compensation, so not as hosed as I assumed from your op.

Aww and here I thought you had some insider information. Nope they paid more for a new label with a + on it, they did get something for the extra money. Now was it worth the extra money, only the buyer can say.

You are likely hosed, why in the world would you send something to Germany to auction it.

That was 100% a scam, NGC is an upstanding company and does not operate like that. I would be sure and do as Bob suggested.

Congratulations!!

Sounds like you had fun and that is the best possible outcome going to a show of any size.

No not really anything on my radar, picking up a few Lincoln cents here and there to continue plugging holes in that set. I would enjoy finishing some of the other sets I have started but the prices of US coins have really shot up and I'm getting priced out of the market.

Congrats!!

Lots of great sets and I noticed a few forum members who won in the best presented category, @Fenntucky Mike, and @Revenant. Shout out to those two for their well deserved awards, and to all the registry members that won.

While we will never know exactly what or how this coin became damaged, it does not look like any coin struck thru cloth or fabric that I have ever seen. As the rims are intact my best guess that someone with lots of free time poured/placed a small amount of some type of corrosive liquid or substance that just filled the coin to the rim and did not spill over onto the rim. Left that side for a period of time, removed the foreign substance, flipped it over and repeated the process on the opposite side. If the time the coin was exposed to whatever was used was short enough and because the coin was likely lying flat not much material was removed from the coin thus explaining why the coin does not weigh light. But that would explain why you see the wicking or as you call it the flame look too much of the surface, the acid was eating the surface and the metal was moved around but not lost completely. The above is just a guess on my part, but it makes sense to me and could explain why the coin looks like this. People do lots of weird things to coins for no reason that is apparent or makes sense to anyone but themselves.

A damaged details coin, that is the type of coin many collectors avoid and are not interested in acquiring.

Do you have the source of your information about this coin having been restored? I am willing to bet that the difference between the two photos is just lighting as opposed to the coin being worked.

Sample slabs are very popular with some collectors.

It never hurts to go and see, hope you find something!

Looks more like it was subjected to some low strength acid or pulled from the ground.

NGC and PCGS operate slightly differently when it comes to reconsideration and/or regrade. I have never used these services at either TPG, but under one of the options the cert number will remain the same at PCGS, just do not recall which that is or if that is the same result with NGC. The op did not specify which TPG holder when he asked the question so some additional details would help clarify. CAC will for a nominal fee reapply the CAC bean for a coin that only receives a + upgrade, this is true even if the cert number changes so long as it can be proven the coin is the same. So it is not uncommon to see a coin go through an auction, receive a grade upgrade, and then be reauctioned at a later time.

@Seamus8 what year is the coin in your op? Here is a handy visual reference to distinguish real hub doubling vs the common forms of strike doubling. Also if you have not you should bookmark the website Error-Ref.com, here is a link. Error-Ref

Welcome to the forum, as a collector I cannot help you, however, does the slab have a numerical grade or is it one of the generic BU or gem grade holders? Also in order for the registry team to help you with your request they will need the cert # on the slab your ASE is in

Welcome to the forum, are you accessing this forum with a smart phone? It will have a camera, or surely you must know a relative or friend with a smart phone you can borrow for a few minutes to take a photo and upload it.

You would need to contact NGC customer service, I'm not sure that they are able to give you that information but they are the only ones that possibly can. The only thing I can say is that the coin is in a newer style of slab so it was put into that slab within the past few years.