What Percentage Markup For CAC?

A quick eBay search shows that some sellers really value those gold CAC stickers. The cheapest I could find were MS63 Mercury dimes with a gold CAC sticker at around $100 each..... and PCGS's fantasy price for MS66 is only $30...

While I wouldn't mind paying a little more for a gold CAC stickered coin it certainly doesn't make a coin worth 3 times PCGS's price at three points higher!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Kee...I recently did an unscientific "study" on CAC (aka "green bean") stickered coins and here's what I came up with? The prices on some are a reasonable 5-10% premium over the same coin w/o the sticker. On the other hand, some of the more common dates with the sticker, were going for outrageous "ask" prices of plus 75%. Also, as I pointed out in previous posts, John Albanese, who founded CAC, is a co-founder of PCGS...and CAC will accept only PCGS and NGC graded coins. I'm sure I will be corrected if I am wrong. CAC also has a "gold bean" which, IMHO, is fairly rare.
Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
As a result, CAC-stickered coins fetch premiums in the coin market, including internet auctions conducted on eBay, and traditional floor auctions held by Heritage Auctions and Stack's Bowers Galleries. CAC has become an important force in the coin industry as its stickered coins are sought after by collectors looking for high quality. According to coin expert Scott Travers:

"Certified coins with CAC stickers have commanded bonus premiums because of the generally accepted perception that they are superior to 'unstickered' coins in the same grade – and coins with gold stickers have been selling for significantly more, often several times as much as coins of the same type, date, and grade that lack a CAC sticker."
"The green CAC are bringing 5 to 15 percent more on average, and coins with gold stickers are selling for roughly 80% to 90% percent as much as those already certified in the next higher grade"

 

I can't say I saw any premium in price when I sold some of my CAC coins on ebay. I actually had to reduce the price below what many were selling for just to move them. I think it really just depends on the coin itself and not so much the sticker. I think the sticker gets people's attention, but it comes down to the coin itself to determine the final hammer price.

 

Most all of the CAC coins I have seen are overpriced...it's a marketing ploy.

 

Here's a good example...34% over dealer ask...and not an eye appealing coin...in all fairness, it is listed as "or make offer".
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1946-D-Walk...588?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461ed47ff4

 

Like others have posted here, I base my opinions by looking at the coin itself. I respect the opinions of NGC, PCGS and CAC, but I still use my own judgment before deciding whether to buy it or not.

 

I think CAC has some value for Classic Coins if you are attempting to purchase 'original' coins and the series is wrought with dippings and other minor surface issues that seemed to happen on a regular basis back in contemporary times.

For example, I collect Seated Quarters, and that is a series that is HEAVILY meddled with and hard to find truly original pieces. So CAC helps that set of coins, but I dont know how much value it adds to say Mercury Dimes where you can easily find a ton of original eye appealing coins in almost any grade range for that series. I would think CAC would also benefit a series like Trade Dollars where again you have many examples that were adulterated and heavily counterfeited, a sticker on that series would be much more valuable than an Ike dollar with the same sticker (talking premium for the sticker, not overall value here).

On a side note, there is also a fine nuance you need to pickup on when dealing with CAC coins, because not all 'original' coins that earn a CAC sticker are necessarily eye appealing coins. Meaning, you will often run into coins that meet the criteria for a green bean, but the overall look is just horrible or not very appealing. In that case the sticker adds nothing for me and actually detracts from the value of CAC.

CAC should have been more along the lines of the PQ sticker. Only stickering coins that were actually attractive and not necessarily just strictly original.

 

You've made some very insightful points. I think the same can be said regarding the value of slabbing for some series vs others as well, and using the exact same examples you gave. Some series you need assurance on and slabbing/CACing makes a lot of sense. Sometimes a CAC sticker is about as useful as a hubcap on a tractor.

 

I've been selling lots of unstickered and stickered CAC coins. I've been a little disappointed in that the stickered ones really only bring about a 10% premium on average. I wonder how many of these are bought back by CAC or the premium is paid simply by virtue of the fact CAC will buy it back and not for what the actual coin is worth.

CAC is a market maker, but I get the feeling they are a huge player in and of themselves as to why their CAC coins sell for more. Sort of like the US government pumping money into the stock market artificially inflating it for years now.

 

Were any of them "buy it now" vs auction? I have seen great price discrepancies between the two on most things.

 

They are buy it nows. If they put them up for auction I doubt they'd clear $40 each. Here's some of the overpriced (in my opinion) Mercuries:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/1940-PCGS-MS6...ker-Mercury-Dime-OGH-/221612923919?nav=SEARCH

http://m.ebay.com/itm/1943-PCGS-MS6...ker-Mercury-Dime-OGH-/231399350452?nav=SEARCH

 

Those are idiot prices.

 

What did W.C. Fields say??

 

Great points. To add, I don't buy any coins sight unseen unless they're ASE's, even then, I want to at least see a picture to make sure there are no white "milk" spots on them.

My general rule of thumb on all coin purchases is that no matter who's plastic it's in, whether it has a CAC sticker or not, I want to see the coin prior to the transaction. My main focus are Morgan and Peace dollars. Not all MS65's are created equal, so I won't just buy it "blind".

 

Actually it was P.T. Barnum!

"A sucker is born every minute".

He posted a sign:
"This way to the egress".

Because people were staying too long.

 

Does "sight unseen" mean that you have to physically see them in your hand?

 

TOF, You are correct...

 

We are both wrong!

Misattributed

• There's a sucker born every minute.
  • Commonly attributed to Barnum, there is much testimony of contemporaries that he never actually said this, and in "P. T. Barnum Never Did Say "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute" R. J. Brown asserts that it actually originated with a banker named David Hannum, in regard to one of Barnum's hoaxes: a replica of the Cardiff Giant.

 

Oops!