Green or Gold CAC Sticker?

Aren't you the least bit concerned by the amount of "value" that certifiers of all types extract from the market writ large? It is a constant source of angst for me. Every dollar they extract comes from the coin owner eventually.

 

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Since Christmas Eve the average high and low at my house was 1 and -19, respectively. The only thing keeping me warm are some of the discussions in CT.

 

You can join you just have to call them

 

If there was a dislike button i'd use it

 

Anybody ever do or even think about places like QC-[check]?

 

The only two I give weight to is CAC and Eagle Eye. I looked into the others and have decided against it. I think the others have made a misstep not being as collector friendly as CAC as the smaller ones charge for every coin which certainly costs them some submissions. The less people that use them the less people that ask for them from dealers, the less dealers that use them ect. Only CAC and Eagle Eye have been successful in their widespread acceptance in the market in my opinion.

 

I've often wondered silently, stopping by and watching the QC-check guys busily examining coins at major shows, "Who is bringing you guys this stuff?" Then I think, "I wonder how big a trunk they brought with them."

 

Well...that's how today's market is.

Let me totally up front...I don't know a single coin with a CAC sticker and as far as I can remember I have never owned one. It's not that I avoid them, but I have never sought one out either.

I'm pretty neutral on TPGs in general. I think that to buy a coin, one should educate themselves and be able to evaluate them personally and decide what they are worth. But, with the internet now playing a huge role in coin purchasing (and thus a reduction in in person buying)...TPGs suddenly have a lot more value. I see them as a safety net for buying coins not in person...and as a way for newer collectors to lessen the chance of getting burned during the learning process.

Frankly, in the days before the internet (which is really before my time)...I'm not sure what value the TPGs really had. I know PCGS and NGC were founded in the 1980s...but the internet didn't really start to blossom until the mid 1990s. So, I don't really know how they got a foothold during those first 15 years but they must have.

I guess the idea of CAC was the next natural progression. This is simply because every grade (no matter who's grading scale we are talking about) has a range of qualities. I could give you 50 MS-65 1881-S Morgan's and all 50 will have different traits and characteristics. So, somewhere along the way, someone decided to create a business to help identify coins within that range.

To me, that seems a little excessive. I mean, I get the idea of using TPGs as protection for online buying...but even with bad photos one should still evaluate the coin. So, to me...the product that CAC has is a little overkill.

As far as the trickle down effect of cost...you are right. At some point, we are paying for this. I think the best thing to do is stick to your guns. Evaluate the coin and decide what it's worth to you and don't pay anymore than that.

 

I'm not opposed to the idea of a modern one as I have often wished CAC would go into moderns at least a little bit more like doing SBAs since they do Ikes. That said I'm not going to pay to send coins where I'll get charged no matter what when I haven't really seen evidence that the market values it

 

We had colder temperatures than normal around Christmas. Had some ice and freezing rain on Christmas Eve and for the first time in my life we had a tiny bit of snow on the ground for Christmas (I'm counting it as a "white Christmas"). But, for the most part the Pacific Northwest hasn't had the severe weather a lot of the country is experiencing right now. Thankfully.

 

Couldn't agree more!

 

I heard that! I have two PR69UC 1981-S Type II SBA's, but my favorite test is to cover the labels and show them side by side and ask people to give each a grade. NOBODY SO FAR has successfully guessed, because they don't look anything alike. They were sent in about 2 months apart.

 

You're equating a stock broker churning a portfolio which if caught doing so once would revoke his broker's license for life to a company accepting coins sent in voluntarily by individuals, giving their opinion on the coins, charging only for the ones they agree pass their standards, then offering their time to explain why coins did not pass first hand from one of the most respected individuals in numismatics to help individuals learn. Totally the same thing.

 

You must be thinking of my father, Ed. I'm Eddie. A lot of people make that mistake...

 

Next bean, the sour apple because the coins owner wasn’t happy with the grade and wants to buy up to the next grade.

 

Poor SBAs get so much hate when they're really a sort of mini Ike. I can believe that, you do sometimes run into some of the proofs that look like they were phones in assuming they didn't turn in the slab.

 

I’ve had my fun and said my piece.
Slabs good
Beans bad
Start grading with the whole scale 1 thru 70 one step at a time like it should be.
Use computers to grade coins technically and people to grade on eye appeal.
I’m sorry if you are a slave to Lucite. Some coins you can’t help it with I know.
Reed

 

Yeah.....no a broker can churn an account every Six months by law. Do your research first so you know what you post
Churning (finance)
Churning is the practice of executing trades for an investment account by a salesman or broker in order to generate commission from the account. It is a breach of securities law in many jurisdictions, and it is generally actionable by the account holder for the return of the commissions paid, and any losses occasioned by the broker's choice of stocks.

Courts generally look at the turnover of an investment account, or the number of times the investment capital has been re-invested during a year. For example, for an actively traded mutual fund, the entire assets of the fund will be involved in buying and selling transactions once every six to twenty-four months. In churning cases, the entire assets of the investor are often traded once a month, or even more frequently. As a commission is paid on each trade, commissions can substantially destroy the value of an investment account in a very short period of time.

Critics of the practice of paying brokers commissions for managing investment accounts point to churning as one of the indicators that the brokerage system indirectly encourages such behavior by brokers to the detriment of investors. Accounts invested in securities with steady returns and little price fluctuation generate no commissions, and brokers are therefore not encouraged to invest their client's money in such investments.[1]

Frequent trading in fee-based accounts is not an example of churning, since no commissions are generated in those transactions. However, the practice of putting clients who trade infrequently into a fee-based brokerage account is known as "reverse churning", since clients are charged fees in accounts with few if any transactions

 

You should take that advice too

 

Here they go!