Is There Any Grade Level That "Market Acceptable" Coins Will Not Make?

@Sharkman's issues raise a few of my own. Mine, I think, relate well to his. Maybe not? I expect I'll either be told in a friendly exchange, or this'll be moved by the Admins.

Although PCGS returned three similarly troublesome coins from my submission a few months back, I'll spare my reader and focus on one: a shilling dated 1787. The slab reads: Genuine / Cleaned-AU Detail / Great Britain S-3743 Without Hearts / 616800.92/39334350.

Now, "AU" is a clue. It tells me that, this coin spent most of its life collected. "1787" is a clue. This coin spent time in the 18th century. The slabbed artifact is a clue. To still be here, it had to spend time in the 19th and the 20th centuries as well. It has now seen one-fifth of the 21st century. Armed with these clues, under my Sherlock Holmes Deerstalker cap, my astute neurons hit upon the idea that the coin must have been cleaned in one of those four centuries!

I've owned it for the last 30% of the 20th century and all of the 21st, so that led me to suspect it was cleaned a long time ago. I craved a scientifically based ballpark estimate as to which century (or centuries) hosted the coin-cleaner(s). I would not pay the same premium for a coin cleaned last week as I'd pay for a coin cleaned in 1787, the year the delegates to the Constitutional Convention began to assemble, or the intervening eras. I don't think I'm alone in this sentiment. As @Sharkman notes, people in bygone eras managed the collectibles in ways we cock a brow at.

Inclined not the least to doubt the finding (the coin is lovely -- perhaps more so than it ought to be), I called PCGS to discuss the three slabs. I theorized that with their knowledge, skill, experience, and equipment, they ought to be able to lend a hand. Time leaves its mark even in tiny scratches. I offered to pay for the added scrutiny. The PCGS first contact went light-speed into her "Here's-the-best-way-to-professionally-blow-off-a-complaining-customer" mode.

In my typical shift to brilliance (I've done such brilliant shifts all my life) I stooped to complaining that she shouldn't confuse me with one who called to complain. I went to my corner to wait for a call-back from her supervisor. The supervisor grasped the concept quite well and handled it quite skillfully. I even avoided adding my brilliance, but it boiled down to "PCGS don't do windows." I'd still like to look out this clouded window to view what's on the other side.

Kevin

I suppose there is "cleaning" and then there is "CLEANING".
Carefully removing dirt and perhaps even toning to get an "as new" coin without leaving any traces of "cleaning" is obviously different from taking a scrub sponge and sanding the top layer of the coin to arrive at a shiny but scratched coin.