Another Gut-Wrenching, Disappointing Loss...

Nonsense. People make a lot of assumptions thinking they know a 200 year history of anything, based off pictures nonetheless. Those coins are a very small percentage of what they have graded, often is a very misleading word for new readers

I would estimate that probably 80-85% of the pre-1900 US silver coinage I have held in my hands at one time or another has been cleaned in some way -- dipped, wiped, polished, rubbed with creams, oiled, buffed, or otherwise had alterations to its mint luster. I've held quite a lot of coins, raw and in slabs. The 15% that I come across that has quite obviously NOT been altered or messed with in any way is what I buy, if I can afford it / need it, or what ends up selling for strong premiums when listed for auction or put into a dealer's case on the bourse.

TypeCoin is 100% correct that PCGS (and ANACS, and NGC, and ICG) almost never mention old cleanings on pre-1900 US silver coinage unless the cleaning has substantially damaged the surface of the coin or is otherwise highly noticeable (whizzing, mechanical polishing.) Dipping, light wiping, old oiling, etc. will almost always get a pass; if the cleaning is more substantial, the coin may still not get a details, but rather a net market grade (i.e. a grade point reduction of 5-20 pts vs. sharpness grade) instead. I state this with one caveat: Morgan dollars, because of their unique preservation and the extremely large number of uncirculated and lightly circulated coins which were saved, will almost always get details designators for even very light cleanings. If you want to see an example of series which are often market graded downwards for old cleanings, look at certified Bust and Liberty Seated coinage, along with Trade dollars. Early US silver coinage (pre-1808) is almost universally given a pass on cleaning, except for the most egregious acts, and even obviously recently cleaned/dipped examples are often not noted as details: cleaned.

Note that I include dipping in the above; there is an ongoing numismatic debate within PCGS, NGC, ANACS, et al. as to whether or not dipping should be considered cleaning, altered surfaces, or whether toning and luster are more a part of eye appeal than sharpness and therefore dipping should not merit a details designation at all but a market grade reduction at worst. For instance, the "big three" are often confounded by an Uncirculated-sharpness Bust half which had ugly, black-brown, spotty toning but was properly and carefully dipped, resulting in a blast-white coin with full mint luster and no surface impairment, but obvious dipping due to the complete lack of toning.

The coin in question is not graded. You made your decision off a picture. If you think graded coins mean nothing you are far behind the times and new members will lose a lot of money listening to this line of thought

I think you took what I said out of context a little. Yes the Trade dollar is not certified. But it has been cleaned. There is no doubt in that, even from a picture. Cruisinfusion said that it wasn't cleaned because it was in a PCGS holder (presumably with no mention of cleaning since this was his basis for it not being cleaned). What my comment was to say was that a clean grade from a TPG does not necessarily mean that a coin has not been cleaned. I have seen many cleaned coins in straight-grade slabs. I can pull up a dozen or so if you want me to.

Also, I was not recommending to others reading this thread that they should always ignore a TPG's judgement. I was saying that I see so many problem coins in problem-free holders (and some overgraded coins), that I will not let the opinion of a TPG on a coin be the sole determining factor in determining if a coin has been cleaned. I will judge that for myself and ignore what the TPG said/implied about originality.

I agree with typecoin and paralyse. TPG's grading opinions of capped bust halves and Seated Liberty dollars are laughable. Their opinions should be noted but you really have to develop an eye to identify altered surfaces on your own. I believe the Seated dollar series has faired the worst. I see cleaned coins in problem-free holders come up for auction every week.

Here's one of their disasters that came up for auction a week ago graded xf-40 by PCGS with no cleaning designation.

Unfortunately this could be sign of things to come. I've been contemplating unloading my key coins, in anticipation of plummeting coin prices, with the influx of Chinese fakes & decline of coin collectors.

I have been talking to a few dealers, and they say that date/mm set collecting is on the verge of dying and the values of key dates are plummeting. This may be a wise choice.

However, they have all said that EF/AU/MS classic type coins are going to hold their value and go up. From what I have seen in the past year, they are not wrong. Prices of early large cents have doubled in the Grey Sheet, and nice, original Trade dollars have increased 50% in the past three years.

Ancients and world coins are becoming ever so popular; they are the busiest tables at coin shows lately. From what I have read in various ancients forums, the collectors there got frustrated by the high prices and over-commercialization of US coins and abandoned them for something more affordable.