Sadly I don't have a picture but follow along anyway. My LCS is selling a 1885-O PCGS MS64 CAC Morgan Dollar for $60, no toning. While discussing the CAC designation with him, he claims he did not price it with CAC in mind. Based on the price, is that true? And if I did buy it, am I getting a deal?
I don't believe a CAC sticker will add much value to a generic date white MS64 Morgan, and likely the dealer knows that. JMO. Now if the coin looks to be close to a 65, $60 bucks would be well spent.
This was what I was going to say as well. It's a fair price but that only matters if you actually like the coin and not just like the fact that it happens to be there at the shop.
Someone sending this to CAC is like someone sending a common date circulated dollar to PCGS - it makes no sense. Maybe they were hoping for a gold bean.
If you're a beginner trying to learn how to grade sending any coins to CAC is an amazing learning experience. I'm sure it's a nuisance to John but he sure doesn't act like it is. You can send him a $45 coin and when it doesn't pass talk to him in person over the phone and he'll tell you why. Absolutely incredible service that I've learned a lot from in 2 short phone calls. I'm not recommending sending common 64s to him (because again it's certainly a nuisance for him) just saying beginners can learn a lot from doing so.
I'm pretty sure the two price hikes pretty close together where a direct effort to discourage the lower value coins . That said you are absolutely right