CAC Sticker

Yes, you're missing the long history of wide variance in the quality of coins assigned a given grade by a TPG. CAC is dealer-driven; they got tired of seeing MS62 coins in MS64 holders, and formed a consortium to put a "seal of approval" on coins they felt are "solid" for the grade. Like the original purpose of the TPG's, it's meant to make "sight-unseen" sales more confidence-inspiring.

So keep in mind - a CAC sticker does not mean "premium" for the grade. Just that the coin honestly deserves the grade it shows. To date, according to them, they have stickered 68,000 of 144,000 coins submitted for review.

I'm a fan. These are people who have a horse in this race, who will lose reputation and therefore income if their efforts are seen as lacking. They sell to you and me, but they also sell to each other.

I didn't like them at first because I felt the same as the OP but when I saw one of the dealers that started CAC have coins in his inventory that didn't make it at CAC I started to feel better about them and can see where they have a place in the collecting world. I do not think some of the coins that have CAC stickers are really necessary to be "Beaned" because they are barely worth the grading fee's but someone thought they needed it and if you send it in and it deserves it I guess they will slap it on there for you

But who is to say that CAC couldn't make the same mistake lets say PCGS could make on a slabbing a coin....I mean, I guess my question is, where does it stop? Should there be a comapny checking CACs work as well?

It just seems like another way for a corp. to make money.

Super Dave; are you saying that the average coin only gets 3 seconds of inspection per side? Wow! No wonder so many coins get body bagged! Imagine you are a grader and you were just told that you have a higher work load today than usual...in the same amount of time! I does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how that would affect human error. Question: does it take agreement from all three graders to body bag a coin?

michaeln1306 said:




This is exactly what some of us older collectors predicted would happen when the TPGs started out. The (then) new idea of TPGs were making claims akin to:

The OLD way of grading coins is subject to human error. Send in your coins and for a small fee we will slab them, put our seal of approval on them, and there will never again be need to question whether or not the grade of your coin is official.

Back then some of us went as far, tongue in cheek, as to predict there would one day be a market, then, for a verification for the TPGs. The claims of the verification systems would be something akin to:

The TPG way of grading coins, no matter how much quality control, is still subject to human error. Send in your old slabbed coins and for a small fee we will check them, put our seal of approval on them, and there will never again be need to question whether or not the grade of your coin is official.

Look familiar?

I also offer a future prediction:
Someone (quite possibly the larger TPGs who are tired of someone saying they need their work verified) will finally do the prudent thing and use a commercial scanning machine (such as I used back in the 90's -- with capabilities of finding/scanning/ID'ing tolerances to the thousands of an inch and was more than capable for using for evaluating coins). Once the companies would lock in the algorithm for computing the conditions, the job would be done well and impartially.

I can see the ads now...

The OLD way of grading coins, no matter how much quality control, is still subject to human error. Send in your old -fashioned slabbed/CAC approved coins and for a small fee we will re-slab them, have our computers certify them, them and there will never again be need to question whether or not the grade of your coin is official.

And then our grand kids will see the day when someone wants to re-write the algorithms for more precision on a molecular level (of COURSE you can't see this with the naked eye - but wouldn't there be a certain degree of satisfaction knowing just how perfect your coins REALLY are!). So people will send in their re-re-re-slabbed coins to be re-re-re-re-certified (for a small fee ).


The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Would the worlds rarest grade be a SGS MS-70 with a CAC sticker? I don't care what year or denomination. In fact, has anyone ever seen a SGS with a CAC or would that cause a paradox that could end all reality as we know it?

Um, yeah, that's it. Excuse me... my tea is steeping and I need to...

OH! COGNNITIVE DISSONANCE! Yes, that IS it. Great answer that I didn't have to look up at all! My thoughts exactly! Thanks for backing me up on this one SuperDave!

(Writing down new super smart, SuperDave phrase in corner of brain.)

No because CAC only accepts coins from certain companies (just like ebay) and SGS is not one of them.