It almost looks like when the guide was pounded in that it chipped off a piece of the playfield with it. I can see that clear is missing around the hole in addition to the chip. Did you or anybody else ever remove that guide, possibly while trying to raise it?

The ball will never contact that spot.
You could just put some paint there to touch it up or some bondo and then paint it I think.
I'd check Vids guide to playfield restoration thread, it might be your ultimate answer.

I would just touch it up. 2 colours plus a little clear, could be done fairly easily. Since the wire blocks it from the players view, mostly.

You know it is there, it might drive you crazy, that it is not 100%. Ultimately it will have to come down to you, deciding on how to handle this.

I see the nick....not sure what dents you are talking about. Do you mean dimples?

Looks like the barb on the wire guide chipped it when it went in. That is going to happen from time to time...but of course I wouldn't be happy if it were mine. Personally, I would stay away from that area with the wax, use a tiny dab of bondo to fill it and tape it off and either airbrush or just brush the black and purple back in and then dab some clear back over it. Should be a really small project, but be careful you don't overdo it and turn it into a bigger project. Whatever you do, DON"T try and pull the wireform back out. It will do more damage.

what's with the clear coat on this playfield? it looks like it was applied with a cheap chip brush

or was this photo taken after applying some wax but before buffing it out?

That definitely looks like some type of wax.

Disclaimer: Your mileage may vary, but this is how I'd tackle it:

I've had luck filling chips like that with "Quickwood" or similar material. Quickwood is almost the exact same color as the tan of the wood around the ring, so once the Quickwood dries, you might not have to color match the tan of the wood colored circle. I always leave the Quickwood chip filler a little lower than the surrounding playfield so I have a slightly recessed area to fill with paint and clear.

Once the Quickwood dried, I'd raid my stash of acrylic paints and touch up the black and purple areas, and tan if needed. I'd probably have to custom blend the purple and tan (wood tone). Once done with the colors, I would expect that the area would be slightly recessed (if I planned correctly) so I could flow clear into it. I have acrylic clear that I'd probably used, but in a pinch, I've had good luck with water thin super glue. You just don't want to get that super glue anywhere else on your playfield, machine, hands, floor, etc., LOL.

Once finished, the top of the clear over the touch-up should be at playfield level, and the repair will basically be imperceptible if done well. Even if not done well, it will probably escape notice, especially from the player's perspective.

Did you or the original owner try to tap up the rails? Seems a bunch of folks do that to try to stop balls hopping over the side and reduce drains. Is it possible someone banged too hard? I notice the left post was moved from the middle position to the bottom one so looks like someone was tinkering. Not helpful for painting/fixing it I know just trying to help understand what happened.

Title sounds a little misleading if it's not brand-new, you said it's been through two owners let alone played at all. Sorry about your mark.

NIB = Not common at all.

This looks like the previous owner did some damage. Honestly, the section you highlighted is not all the concerning to me but the section I circled below is concerning and needs to be repaired or it will grow. I wouldn't e surprised if the previous owner dropped a screwdriver on the PF at least once while working on it.

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Well, to be honest, if you didn't pull this out of the box then it is no longer considered a NIB machine. It is now HUO at best. Yes it's possible that was done at the factory. Yes it is possible it was done by the previous owner. There is no way to know for certain at this point. If at the factory, it's even possible it was missed by the QC group. I think they just make sure stuff works and then 'box 'er up'.