1921 Peace Dollar, Will It Sticker At Cac?

Looks like a toss-up and there's only one way to find out. If you have a group to submit (and can submit yourself) then go ahead and send it. It's only costs shipping if it fails (as a collector/submitter) and should easily realize a gain over the cost if it does CAC. If you have to go through a dealer and pay all the fees either way it might change the value proposition.

And I also like how if you take a $5000 MS-69 Lincoln Memorial cent out of the plastic, is is not worth even $10. The two-digit number on the worthless piece of paper is the sole determining factor of what the coin is worth, not the coin itself.

Someone yelled at me and called me a child having a tantrum for complaining about the TPGs like this, especially for modern coins. But when I asked him to refute my points, I never heard from him again.

that faith in TPGs exists.

And as stated, I have no problem with people collecting slabs if they like them for what they are - its a hobby for them.

I also know cultures everywhere have always seen a mark of intelligence in a person who will not just blindly follow the masses. Intelligence that benefits everyone is derived by people thinking for themselves. This means if a person is going to have faith in something, they are easily manipulated like a marionette if they have not checked to see if their admired concept is worthy of their allegiance.

These TPGs make a lot of money from people who have never taken the time to understand the facts behind the TPG system. They get manipulated for more money by things proven false and sometimes a bit shady as far as business practices go.

I also hate the idea newcomers are not only led to believe believe TPGs are THE experts, but these same newbies see the TPGs being a 100% legitimate/vital business.

Awhile ago on this forum there was a post by a newbie saying we all needed to get behind TPGs and support them since, as he claimed, not only are they vital to the hobby, but (he stated) the TPGs are the best line of defense against fakes.

I am sure he meant good and totally believed what he said. But he was one more person with lack of basic facts who was dancing to the TPG piper's tune. I am sure the TPGs love legitimate unwitting disciples like this.

I nicely helped him cut his marionette strings with facts. It is self education that is the best weapon against fakes. Its not hard to find where fakes have been slabbed by TPGs (this is not a reference to the Chinese faked slabs). Fakes slip through TPGs also - its piecework and fast.

I am not a collector (officially) of ancient coins. But I have been following posts when people on CCF ask something like, "Is this ancient a fake?" Before I read any of the replies by the experts, I look at the pic and see what my opinion is. I then read the replies from the experts. Having looked into modern fakes, I found it was not to hard to tell the ancient fakes without paying omeone to have to tell me what I could find out myself with little effort.

I see CCF as a lot better defense against fakes than TPGs can ever be. Here people will tell you why a coin is a fake. The TPGs just put a label on something. I also am sure there are fakes out there that would fool me.


Having said all of that, I will say that I did have some coins slabbed. Why? B/c if something happens to me, my family who has no interest in coins will know to look into these and not just dump them at the bank. So I forgot I do see one other legit usage for TPGs. The plastic lets a non-collector know its not pocket change.

Earl42 wrote:

I think an underlying pretense to slabbing was to make coins a commodity to trade sight-unseen, as investments. I'm sure a lot of people buy slabbed with that their sole intention--they could care less about eye appeal, the die state of that "MS67" coin, or other subtle qualities that collectors do care about. I suspected that top-tier slabbing was a farce when a market arose for "grading the grade" with a sticker!

That said, some key coins require certification--but then again who knows if that slab is real? I mean, it all boils down to collector expertise. Personally, I don't have a single slabbed coin from NGC or PCGS that I agree on the grade. They're overgraded by 5-10pts.

I wish that every collector, who has some ability to grade coins, could sit down with a few boxes of coins at the viewing of a major auction, and see some of the pieces that have CAC stickers. If you are still willing to drink the Kool Aid after that, then so be it. You cannot blindly accept what CAC says. It has not created a sight unseen market that has long been promised, but not delivered. Coins are too diverse for that.