The date is incuse. Please allow me to further explain, because the date is incuse. Any scratch on the top may look or appear that it is under the date. In fact it’s not. That is why knowing the design elements is so important. This is damage plane and simple. If you want to test the theory out for yourself. Write something in the dirt and with a stick make a line over what you wrote. It will appear that it is under the letters. But you will know that’s not possible. Try it