GTG 36S Buffalo

They surely aren't easy. I automatically assume that in todays standards weak strike/with a dull luster, becomes a sub Gem grade. This coin shows uniform luster through out the coin, with only the slightest of surface contact on the high points. Could have made a pocket once, or twice.
Or,possibly a surface that was objectional/unfavorable to it's preservation.

Does this not make it an AU?

 

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I don't see any actual wear on your coin. Slight marks on the high points is a sign of a weak strike. Tomaska calls it "high point pitting," but the basic idea is that the strike wasn't strong enough to fully strike up all the details. On the high points, you have a bit of roughness from the planchet that wasn't struck out. In my opinion, this limits the grade of the coin, but some disagree. This is something that @Lehigh96 and I have discussed many times.

If that is what your coin shows, then that may have contributed to the lower grade. I think the dull luster is a bigger grade driver on this particular coin, coupled with a somewhat negative eye appeal (in my opinion). I don't really see major marks in your photographs, but the strike/luster is enough to keep it from gem, as you suspect.

 

I guess that I may have said that wrong. There is an even amount of luster present on the coin, Yes correct. But there is also a presence of surface contact, and might not show up to ones eye with out magnification, but it is there. I use a 10 times out in the field. And a scientific lens at the desk which is four times, but much clearer. Those marks on an ungraded coin are what I would consider circulation.

The amount of contact marks I completely agree with @Lehigh96 assessment. What gives is the slight high point contact, that was not a coin.
Could have been a mint bag? (shrugs shoulders)

How Much wear can a MS coin receive before it gets down graded to an AU? This one is definitely on the boarder. I guess my point was dull luster if not inspected can easily be a Circulated, AU.

 

Any wear at all will make the coin an AU. Contact marks on the high points, as long as the luster is still complete, is not wear. This may seem like semantics, but the distinction is important.

 

I have no problem with the semantics, I just don't think a basic look at the coin is sufficient enough to give a grade to the coins categorized in the low MS range.
If someone was to have put a loupe on the coin I believe it would have been graded as an AU.
I paid the dealers price knowing that I was buying a very nice AU58 coin.
I just wish that the TPGs would adhere to the correct grading standards.
Wear = AU.