Prove me wrong: Market Acceptable does NOT mean problem free.

I did not say that the source of hairlines can be definitively determined for every proof coin. You asked about hairlines on proof coins, and I said they could have occurred because of the storage methods used at the time the coins were struck. Then you asked how one could tell if a proof coin had been cleaned, and I gave you diagnostics which could determine if the hairlines are from a cleaning.

I have only been challenging your built-up views about the grading system and providing evidence and examples to support my points, which you choose to ignore because they don't fit your agenda to preach that the TPGs have to be right. You choose to ignore all evidence on the coin in front of you and try to give PCGS as much leeway as possible. This little blurb proves this is what you want to think to protect this paradigm of yours. But the fact that you choose to go the route of an ad hominem attack rather than provide more-substantial proof of your argument than a vague quote from PCGS is telling.

Again, I only referred to one scenario. All others would be purely conjecture

I did not make that claim. PCGS did. I am merely using PCGS' words to counter your point. And you choose to ignore it because it does not fit into the agenda you have been trying to put forth in this thread. I thought you held PCGS to the ultimate standard and that their word is what goes.

And I have said multiple times that not all hairlines are from an abrasive cleaning and gave examples when this is the case. Oh wait, you are ignoring that too because it does not fit into your agenda either.

That's because a lot of the classic proof coins (graded PF-60/61/62) would dinged for cleaning, and PCGS can't have that if they want to keep the dealers happy. But classic proof coins are graded on hairlines like BU business strikes are graded on contact marks. That is the standard that was decided upon because the fields of proof coins are so sensitive to hairlines, and that is how it is going to be.

 

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But let's go back to the question: When a coin is raw, what determines whether or not the damage is market-acceptable? You just restated the question in your answer without actually answering the question.