"CAC" sticker? Is this necessary, or should I pursue one?

Well !! This old sucker is just gonna sit back and............






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Perhaps I should amend my statement to say "They are worthless TO ME". In fact, they are less than worthless TO ME.

I thought prefixing my statement with "IMO" was sufficient, but given the flaming responses I've received, maybe not.

 

I hope this isn't going to be a sequel to the flame war on this subject in Mr. Brooklyn's thread.

 

Make mine a Miller High Life!

 

"Flaming responses"? Whoa. Just discussing...

 

And that is your right...there is nothing wrong with choosing to not pay a premium or not buy a stickered or slabbed coin at all. That is the great thing about this hobby, it is whatever the collector wants it to be.

But, back to my original thought for the OP. If you are planning on keeping the coin then leave it as is...if you are planning on selling it, consider CAC. If it does sticker, it will realize a premium over a non-stickered example nearly every time. However, there is no guarantee it will sticker. You must first evaluate the coin on your own and decide if it truly is good for MS64+. If you think it will sticker and you are planning on selling it someday, then I would send it to CAC.

 

Also, everyone...lets stay civil. There is nothing wrong with a passionate discussion...but lets not let it deteriorate into a flame war.

 

I haven't seen anything like a flame in this discussion ... yet!
But you are right - guys let's all chill out and make it Miller Time - they don't call it the champagne of bottled beers for nothing, you know!

 

Sorry, I wasn't referring to your post, but rather camlov2's comment that my opinion was worthless, and Morgandude11's comment that I was flat out wrong.

Even though I disagreed with some of your logic, your comments were relevant to the topic. I didn't take them as an personal attack and I hope you didn't take my response as an insult either.

To those who do think my opinion is worthless, I'd like to see you analyze getting a CAC sticker from a business perspective. Since resale value is what drives most people to get a CAC sticker, how does that usually pan out for the small time investor that can't afford to get the same discount rates that HSN gets? If you decide to take me up on this, please take EVERYTHING into consideration. Membership costs, grading costs, shipping costs, insurance costs, what insurance will actually cover in the event of a loss, risk of a coin not making the grade, the time involved, the expenses involved in speeding up the grading process if you choose to do so, etc. Analyze the total costs (time, money, and risk) involved in getting a coin graded and let me know if my opinion is still worthless. Keep in mind that if you brought the coin to a coin show to sell, I might be the only person to make an offer on it...

In the end, the only ones that win are CAC and large volume dealers like HSN. And both because of the time honored principle of "There's a sucker born every minute."

 

No worries.

About those costs, though, TPG membership and grading are non-CAC costs. CAC costs are just $10-$12.50 for coins under $10,000 value, plus shipping and insurance of course. They don't charge for coins that don't sticker.

 

I didn't know that.

I still don't want their stickers on my stuff though.

From a business perspective, I suppose it might make sense to get a CAC sticker for a $10k coin, but only if the time to get it graded wasn't significant when compared to the time it would take to sell it. If I list it on FeeBay and it sells in 7 days for $9k without the sticker, but takes a month or two to get a sticker for it so it will sell for $10k, I could have bought and sold a few of them in that timeframe.

Another thing to consider is how much did I buy the coin for. If I bought it for $9k and NEEDED to get it stickered in order to make any profit at all, then I'd be in a pretty bad position. One I would not have voluntarily put myself in as a businessman. Because what if the coin doesn't sticker?

 

While I think CAC adds nothing of value to a coin, I do agree with Camaro in that in the real market it will add value when the time comes to sell because many believe in stickers and plastic over their own judgement.
Guy

 

This is what a majority of collectors seem to do.

 

Then I would not be selling to you, and its as simple as that. I and most dealers could care less about your personal opinions in regards to TPGs or CAC. Just because you may not like or see value in a sticker/slab, it means nothing because many, many other people do.

I feel the same about guys who think they know it all and/or can grade better than the pros. The fact is, if you can grade very well, there is money to be made by playing the TPG/CAC game, so knocking them while bringing up the business aspect is something I find highly suspect. Ill be conservative here and estimate that four out of five guys who act like experts buying raw coins are fools doomed to failure, especially if playing the business end of the game. I've seen it over and over and over again. Of course there are certain series (EAC as an example) commonly collected raw and this is fine (and a different story), but with most coins, unless buying or collecting widgets/trinkets, there is little downside to plastic/sticker.. anyone so familiar with the business should know this. The biggest suckers are those who think they always know more than the guy on the other side of the table.

The last I checked, HSN did not have a guarantee to buy their coins.. CAC does. Also, CAC membership fees, huh? You might want to double check and reconsider. There is little, if anything in this hobby/business that offers the value CAC does, and this does not only come from the sticker. They offer the cheapest tuition out there and many wise collectors have used this to their benefit... a lot more can be learned from submitting to CAC than can be learned from playing a know it all picking over raw coins.

I've done the analyzation and I've lived it, have you?

 

I think you have the wrong impression of me. I am not claiming to know it all. The one thing I do know is that I don't know everything.

I have not fully done the analyzation, nor have I lived it. I was turned off of doing it by reports of six month waiting times at some of the TPGs. If I have to wait six months to get a coin back, even if it isn't the norm, I'd have a hard time making justifying the time/expense.

 

Fair enough

I've never waited anywhere close to six months (TPG) and with CAC its never taken more than two weeks. Of course there can always be an exception, but overall the turnaround time is not that bad. Both offer a lot of benefits (regardless of what some may say/think) so take the time to learn and decide for yourself.

 

I'm also the kind of guy that can be persuaded to change his mind. I suppose getting a coin graded and/or stickered could make business sense.

I still prefer my coins raw. But then again, I'm not buying $10k coins either.

Thanks for an interesting discussion everyone.

To the OP: Since you do have a $10k coin, and these guys do have more experience with this sort of thing than I do, and it seems the cost isn't as high as I had assumed, and the processing time might not be as long either, I suppose it's worth considering...

Now pardon me while I dine on my slice of humble pie...

 

I haven't waited 6 months to get coins returned from my preferred grader (NGC).
In fact, even submitting at economy level, I got my coins back in less than 3 weeks.
Nor do I pay membership fees to them (I'm an ANA member, so I have submission priveleges)
CAC does not, to my knowledge, require a membership fee.
Bottom line is that if you don't want to get your coins graded, don't do so.
If you don't want to collect certified coins, then you are free not to.
No sense in getting hot under the collar, fussing and fighting and arguing about it and criticising them that does
I like my coins certified, primarily because I feel it will make their eventual resale much easier.

 

I'm not angry, I just enjoy a good discussion sometimes.

 

CAC results are lightening fast compared to PCGS or NGC. Rarely does it take longer than 3-4 days once the coins are received.