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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 7652155, member: 105571&quot;]Answering your second question first, less than 1% of all coins granted a green CAC certification earn the gold CAC certification.&nbsp; IIRC, the number is something like 0.53%.</p><p><br /></p><p>A green CAC means that the coin is either an A or B quality for the TPG-assigned grade.&nbsp; There are four tiers of coin quality in each grade:&nbsp; A, B, C and D.&nbsp; C is below average for the grade and D is average minus for the grade or even over-graded.&nbsp; So a B coin is average+ for the assigned grade and an A coin is the cream of the crop for that assigned grade.&nbsp; These are the meanings as published and written about by CAC and many respected people in the trade and collecting community.</p><p><br /></p><p>A gold CAC certification means that the coin is under-graded for the assigned TPG grade.&nbsp; In other words, if the TPG gave the coin a MS-62 grade but CAC believes it is actually a MS-63, then it would merit a gold sticker.&nbsp; Now, I do not know if CAC makes the distinction between a MS-63 A, B or C coin.&nbsp; For example, if the MS-62 coin is really a MS-63 but just an average C coin for MS-63, does it get the gold bean?&nbsp; Don&#039;t know.&nbsp; I would love to hear some knowledgeable feedback on this question.&nbsp; Below is my 1859 half dime, graded PCGS PR-62 but with a gold CAC bean.&nbsp; So, for a PR-63 grade, would it be an A, B, C, or D coin?</p><p><br /></p><p>The arguments made against CAC that it is just one man&#039;s opinion are somewhat spurious.&nbsp; First of all, John Albanese is not just any person, he is the founder of PCGS and NGC and is a noted grader.&nbsp; Secondly, he doesn&#039;t work alone, he has several people that work with him on this but there is no question he is the final arbiter of what CAC gives out.&nbsp; Thirdly, as far as I can tell, he does not have any conflict of interest when it comes to grading any individual coin.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This contrasts sharply with every person who has a coin to sell.&nbsp; What CAC does is no different in concept than what a dealer does when he puts a handwritten sticker on a slab that says &quot;PQ&quot;, meaning &quot;Premium Quality&quot;.*&nbsp; That dealer has an inherent and irredeemable conflict of interest when he judges his coin for sale as better than the average.&nbsp; Now, I&#039;m not saying that all dealers&#039; judgements are wrong or that all dealers succumb to their conflict of interest.&nbsp; All I am saying is that all other things being equal, I would trust the judgement of the entity with no conflict over the one with a conflict.</p><p><br /></p><p>Make your own judgements about the value of TPGs and CAC.&nbsp; But there is no disputing the fact that slabbed coins on average bring better prices and move faster than unslabbed coins.&nbsp; There is also no dispute of any significance that, on average, CAC coins bring premiums and Gold CAC coins bring premiums over Green CAC coins.&nbsp; Can you find exceptions?&nbsp; Sure, and some series perform better than others.&nbsp; But the market has spoken.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, don&#039;t take anything I&#039;ve said above as an unreserved endorsement of TPGs or CAC.&nbsp; Both, IMHO, have made mistakes and I am a firm believer in look at the coin first and then look at the assigned grade.</p><p><br /></p><p>* When I first started attending coin shows and was a very neophyte collector, I approached a dealer&#039;s multi-table display of slabbed coins that covered almost every 19th and 20th century US series and all in high MS and PR grades.&nbsp; I noticed that he had several coins propped up into prominence and each had a sticker with &quot;PQ&quot; hand written on it.&nbsp; I asked him what &quot;PQ&quot; meant and seeing I was an ignorant rube he replied &quot;It stands for &#039;Prom Queen&#039;.&nbsp; You know, a coin that really stands out from the norm.&quot;&nbsp; The next time I was at a show and saw this, I mentioned to the dealer that his coin was a nice Prom Queen. He laughed and said it stands for &quot;Premium Quality&quot;.&nbsp; One of my untold lessons in life to go along with the left-handed monkey wrench and the bucket of steam.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1315602[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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