'm gong to be contrarian again. I think it may be the remains of a planchet flaw that wasn't wiped out in the strike because of the lower pressure in the device feature. The reason I go against
PMD is because the surfaces of the "flaw" are rough and strictly confined to the letter. If this had been damage say from a hit I would expect to see a smoothing or smearing of the metal and probably evidence if the hit in the field below the foot of the A. Note the "damage" in the A goes all the way down to the field level but shows no contact in the field itself. If there was a small void in the surface of the planchet, the field of the die could wipe out the flaw in the field while allowing it to remain in the letter itself.