Recently stumbled across a 1798 half eagle sold by Heritage last year that was in a PCGS holder, graded MS61, that had the wrong variety on the label. See link and pics. It was the rarer small 8 variety, but the label stated it was a large 8 variety. The Heritage cataloger correctly pointed out that it was a small 8 in large 8 clothing. Sold for $47K (I'd buy a dozen for a 10% discount! ). Strange thing is that it had a green sticker on it. Things get little weird when the coin is checked for cert. no. on the PCGS website. The cert. no. (6719015) on the slab when sold by Heritage is still valid and comes up on the PCGS website. However, it comes up correctly as a small 8 variety (PCGS type no. 8079), but ... the label has it as type 8078, the large 8 variety. It would be interesting to know what the cert. no. would have showed on the PCGS website prior to the Heritage auction .... small 8 or large 8? So what about CAC? When they received the coin, I assume they checked the cert. no. If the cert. no. check indicated large 8, well ... perhaps they aren't that good a recognizing varieties or perhaps all they cared about was the grade. However, if the cert. no. indicated small 8 in the PCGS database even if the label said otherwise, they should have sent the coin back to the submitter stating that the label was wrong and that the coin should be sent to PCGS for a correct label. Instead they graded it and awarded a green sticker. So does CAC care or not whether the variety is correct on the label, or are they only about the grade? Admittedly the difference here is subtle. But what about a mislabeled plain CC versus capped CC 1879 Morgan dollar or a VDB versus non-VDB 1909S Lincoln cent? Would they sticker one of these if they agreed with the grade even though the variety on the label was wrong? I've looked on CAC's website and at some of their literature, and it only speaks to grade, not variety. Cal link: https://coins.ha.com/itm/a/1251-5845.s
I know that it happens. I have a three cent nickel incorrectly labeled by NGC as a three cent silver. Their authentication site shows a value more than ten times what the piece is truly worth. I just chalk it up to being human. In the instance you cite, I am sure they corrected the info on their website at Heritage's behest.
Good question. I don't know if CAC looks at the variety, that's shown on the holder. They must look at varieties to grade the coin properly. Again, good question.
My understanding is that CAC is a grade verifier only. If they notice an incorrect label they would probably let the submitter know, but their main job is to check if the grade is solid or high end for the TPG assigned grade.
