CAC - sticker fakery ?

And you're not alone on that either :thumb:

 

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FAQ=generic question and answer, made up by the owner.

 

These hypothetical conspiracy theory paranoid musings have provided my Monday with some humor.

I agree with Doug that putting a "low for the grade" sticker would not be terribly useful as it would be immediately removed. The "etching" of the slab is a really silly idea, and would likely be a death blow to CAC's business volume if they implemented such a plan -- who wants to send in a coin for potential approval knowing that if it fails it will receive the dreaded "Scarlet Letter" etched into its plastic. Not to mention, this would likely cost more than a simple hologram sticker and would drive up costs for submitters at the same time as making the service less appealing.

As Lehigh stated, there is no reason why CAC can't provide in their cert look-up database the coins that have already been submitted but did not sticker. Such a look-up would be useful for persons who are thinking of submitting a coin for review, so they would know whether its previous owner had already attempted the same. BUT, I'm sure CAC enjoys looking at the same coin over and over and getting paid to do so.

 

Something to ponder. Not long ago I purchased an older PCGS slab, with a CAC sticker, that for some reason had never had the cert. number entered in the PCGS database. I had PGCS correct that for me.

But, before PCGS fixed the issue, when I checked the CAC database the coin was showing, with the "non-existent" PCGS cert. number listed. Evidently CAC had never checked the PGCS cert. number before putting the CAC sticker on it. They must have just assumed that the PGCS number on the slab was a valid one, without checking it first.

All is well now, but I am still concerned that CAC would sticker a slab when the cert. number at that time didn't exist. UNLESS the number was somehow erased in the PCGS database after CAC had stickered the slab. The whole thing was very weird.

 

Where I see an dangerous concern would be fake stickers on fake slabs that would be the same number as in the database. Someone in China fakes a coin, looks up in the database the TPG number to assign, slabs it and slaps a fake CAC sticker on it.

As to the sticker, from the previous thread it was a bad fake, but if someone wanted these it would not take much to order a roll of these stickers that are a perfect match to the originals. My firm uses holographic stickers, and the hardest part really is the color match. Guess what? They are printed in China. No one has EVER asked us if we had permission to print any design or label on the stickers. I could order a roll of these tomorrow if I wanted.

 

It would seem pretty easy to get your hands on faske stickers, if one was so inclined