Frankly, most of the CAC stickered coins I have seen have been right on the money, they seem to be cautious on what they put their sticker on, unbiased, but they are getting tons of certified coins, so they must be making some mistakes. Here is a coin at auction that in my opinion is overgraded by a point: http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=3276&lot=2068 What happened that they did not reject it since lady liberty's face looks like the Central Park mugging victim's? My only thought is that their criteria seems to be, originality, lack of glaring "problems", if the submitter sent in a bunch of other good coins, a low end coin may get through occasionally. Given that CAC actually buys coins that it stickers, you would think that when the bloom is off the rose, they may get stuck with some coins coming back from its buyers who don't buy the CAC sticker as an absolute...
Is there a chance that the horizontal scratch on the cheek of Liberty (and a similar one about 2:00 between the stars) is on the holder and not the coin? -thecointrader
I don't think anyone sees the TPGs or CAC as perfect.... Getting past that, you are second-guessing CAC and NGC, who both saw the coin in-hand, based on a Teletrade photo? Really? Also, I don't know of a single collector or dealer that look at CAC (or the TPGs) as an "absolute". Respectfully...Mike
It looks like a 63 to me. But if you bought it and don't like it, CAC will purchase it from you no questions asked.
I see nothing wrong with the coin. It is a very clear MS 63, and has eye appeal. S0, what is the issue? I don't see it as overgraded.
Here are the grading descriptions from PCGS: http://www.pcgs.com/grades.html Compare to a bunch of others at Heritage: http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1168&lotNo=8950 Compare to other Teletrade MS63 and higher grades: http://www.teletrade.com/coins/sear..._onlytoned=&s_keywords=&button=Search&s_d21=1 Either the picture is part of the problem, akin to the phenomenon on the Moon when the angle of the sun causes shadows and highlights pock marks, etc., or the coin is baggy. It is not a rare date and generally comes well struck and attractive. Some may like the Euro original look, not for me. I rest my case.
Gold coins, especially older ones are not easy to photograph. They look kind of yellow, if one uses the standard autofocus and autoexposure controls on a camera, as the cmos sensors of most digital cameras make a compromise guess in autoexposiure/autofocus mode. SO, I'd say that gold is probably the hardest coin type to photograph, with the possible exception of certain reddish brown copper coins. One must use great lighting and manual settings when taking pictures of Gold so as to avoid that "yellow-washed out" image. Also, digital photography exaggerates all imperfections unless the light is perfect, due to digital "noise" that is often prevalent in indoor photographs.
This coin is a perfect example of what I mean when I say that CAC goes along with grading practices used by the TPGs. That coin is no more MS than I am. It is literally covered with breaks in the luster, in both the fields and on raised portions of the coin. The coin is at best AU, and not even high AU. But not only did the TPG assign the MS grade, but CAC went along with it ! Sad.
