in a relatively valuable US issue - say something worth more than $1000 in either case (relatively rare silver coinage or older gold - not super common issues where the grade might not matter much anyway) - which would you rather have? Or pay more for? a nice XF45 coin that has CAC certification or an AU50 that's decent, but not CAC quality. Or, are they nearly equal? DUK
Here's an example. The first is an 1889 CC Morgan Dollar in PCGS XF45 CAC. The second is a PCGS AU50, not CAC'd. The sale price difference was about $1800 in favor of the AU50 with no CAC.
Here's an NGC AU50 with no CAC that sold for about $1000 more than the CAC'd XF45, but $800 less than the PCGS non-CAC'd AU50.
I would rather own the coin that is most pleasing to me ignoring what others say about it. The problem with a CAC versus non-CAC discussion is you have no idea of the non-CAC is lacking it due to quality or lack of submission. Similarly, you don't know if the XF is an old XF that might upgrade today to AU. So, I ignore all of them and buy what I like and what pleases me. Hopefully if it pleases me when I am dead my wife will find someone else it pleases. Edit: Kind of embedded in my "coin that is most pleasing to me" phrase I just used was the assumption I have been around coins for close to 40 years now. I sure wouldn't advocate an absolute beginner to only trust his untrained eye. My old eyes, (seriously, in a year or two I will need reading glasses), take into account many, many things a new collector wouldn't. I just wished to clarify that, and not advocate a new collector to spend thousands on whatever they felt like.
You can't make a blanket statement that would cover all situations. Eye appeal is subjective just as "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Chris
I think in the case of these Morgans, there is a clear difference between the XF45 and both AU50's. In other series, the difference between AU50 and XF45 can be more subtle and have more to do with retained luster than remaining detail. But in any case, I personally prefer an AU50 that is accurately graded over an accurately graded and CAC'd XF45.
I agree with these comments, all of them. But I do have a question regarding your last sentence, the answer to which I think will be beneficial to those reading this - why ? And I'll even go first. To me, an AU50 is just a much nicer looking coin than an XF45. Yes they are only 1 grade apart, but to my eyes that 1 grade makes all the difference when it comes to a coin pleasing me, making me feel good about my purchase, satisfied if you will. And that same way of thinking transfers on upwards too, in some cases a 63 just wouldn't be good enough, but a 64 or 65 would be, and so on. That said, it also depends on why I am buying the coin. Now those that know me, truly know me, might question that and say something like - but Doug, you have always said to only buy coins that you like, so how can that be true ? Well it can be true because there are different reasons for my happening to like a coin. I may be trying to just add another date or mint mark to my collection and don't particularly care to spend a lot of money just to do that so a lower grade coin is good enough to satisfy that desire. And then there are the cases where I would buy a coin because of its beauty, and for me, that beauty would seldom be achieved with coins of lower grades so typically only higher graded coins would qualify. And then there were the cases where only the best would do. As a general rule, I always went for higher graded coins. But yeah there were cases when I would buy a VF and be perfectly happy with it. I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that as a collector, you must first examine yourself and your reasons for buying any specific coin before you can answer the question, for yourself, as to what exactly is good enough, and what isn't. I think there are too many people who do not do that and thus buy coins for the wrong reasons.
I prefer the higher grade due to desirability of having an ALMOST uncirculated coin, (when you take attractive toning out of the equation). But here's an example where I would rather have the XF45 with CAC over the AU50. The detail is nearly exactly the same, but the AU50 has a little more luster. In fact the reverse detail is stronger on tge xf45. But... I prefer the XF45 CAC'd coin because of the originality and high level of detail for an xf45.
Wow, thanks for the great responses. I asked because now and then I find myself with this sort of choice and I wondered what other folks were thinking. I collect older gold - type one double eagles and a some pre-1850 liberty coins. In those series, xf45 and AU50 are my favorite grades for several reasons - not the least of which is that when I have found slightly higher grade coins in my price range I don't find them as pleasing - although in many cases they're easier to find with CAC certification in AU53 to 55. There's something I like about the little bit of honest wear on objects this old. An AU50 that is CAC quality - original surfaces, some luster, etc - is usually way beyond what I want to invest in any one coin, so high quality XF 45's tend to be what I try to find. I've also found it much more likely to get an XF45 certified by CAC than an AU50 - even when I thought the AU50 might have a good chance. AU50 seems to be a difficult grade to get CAC certification on in older coins (I've had better luck with 1880's and 1890's CC gold in AU50 grades). And then there's the potential for resale - The examples people provided are really good - I suspect those XF45's with CAC will often sell faster than the AU50's - at fair prices.
