I'm continuing the debate because it is interesting.
Fad, no. Business, yes. What are businesses designed to do? Make money. I would argue it's even more obvious if the guy that founded PCGS (money-making business) took the next evolutionary step years later of founding CAC (another money-making business). How many Samsung Galaxys and iPhones will they keep making? It's just the marketing strategy. The latest and greatest.
But let's step way back. Are TPGs and CAC valuable to, worthwhile, and good for numismatics? Collectors? Dealers? Well it depends on how you define those things I suppose.
In my opinion, if you're looking at it in the most general sense, both TPGs and CAC help increase the total flow of sales within numismatics, create more variety of products, and hopefully make numismatics more popular as these are both widely discussed topics in numismatics. So in a general sense, to me that seems like a win. Are those companies profiting from that? Yes. Are they influencing realized auction prices? Yes. Now how that affects collectors financially, etc. is just a different, particular aspect of that.
I think maybe we all share some of those general views, it just might depend on what aspects apply to you or that you are interested in. Maybe there's some common ground. Maybe I'm just rambling at this point.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I can see points from all sides, it just depends how you look at it.
The thing about CAC is I can't do that. Last time I checked, CAC was not accepting new members, and hasn't for a long time. That's one difference between CAC and the TPGs - it's closed off to your average collector. It's not an openly available resource like the TPGs. Why is that? Anyone can send an IHC in for a Photo Seal. If I had to guess, there's people that see that as elitist or feel like they've missed the boat, and that probably creates a general negative opinion about it.
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CAC is over a decade old, there is no fad.
CAC is over a decade old, there is no fad.
Fad, no. Business, yes. What are businesses designed to do? Make money. I would argue it's even more obvious if the guy that founded PCGS (money-making business) took the next evolutionary step years later of founding CAC (another money-making business). How many Samsung Galaxys and iPhones will they keep making? It's just the marketing strategy. The latest and greatest.
But let's step way back. Are TPGs and CAC valuable to, worthwhile, and good for numismatics? Collectors? Dealers? Well it depends on how you define those things I suppose.
In my opinion, if you're looking at it in the most general sense, both TPGs and CAC help increase the total flow of sales within numismatics, create more variety of products, and hopefully make numismatics more popular as these are both widely discussed topics in numismatics. So in a general sense, to me that seems like a win. Are those companies profiting from that? Yes. Are they influencing realized auction prices? Yes. Now how that affects collectors financially, etc. is just a different, particular aspect of that.
I think maybe we all share some of those general views, it just might depend on what aspects apply to you or that you are interested in. Maybe there's some common ground. Maybe I'm just rambling at this point.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I can see points from all sides, it just depends how you look at it.
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You actually can talk to CAC about your submissions
You actually can talk to CAC about your submissions
The thing about CAC is I can't do that. Last time I checked, CAC was not accepting new members, and hasn't for a long time. That's one difference between CAC and the TPGs - it's closed off to your average collector. It's not an openly available resource like the TPGs. Why is that? Anyone can send an IHC in for a Photo Seal. If I had to guess, there's people that see that as elitist or feel like they've missed the boat, and that probably creates a general negative opinion about it.






















