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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;NPCoin, post: 405806, member: 5629&quot;]A reliable system for buying coins sight unseen does not and cannot exist.&nbsp; This is the supposed purpose of the TPGs, and it has failed to accomplish what it originally intended to do...or did it?&nbsp; Business is about profit, and there is certainly profit to be made, both by the slabber as well as the speculator on slabs.</p><p><br /></p><p>CaC adds most definitely another level of (false) security regarding a coin and its condition.&nbsp; Yet, there are so many aspects and attributes regarding each coin that two coins graded even MS-67 can and do vary so vastly.&nbsp; TPG slabs are really a lot like stocks.&nbsp; Stock prices in no way reflect the actual value of a company.&nbsp; Stocks simply are an indicator of investor faith in a company.</p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that CaC is an attempt to place further faith in the slab.&nbsp; As the faith is built in the slab, the prices would generally rise, just as with stocks, as there is some form of security about the overall condition and marketability of the slabbed coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>That is not to say that I personally do not believe that CaC (as well as the TPGs) has an ulterior motive.</p><p><br /></p><p>Something that I am surprised has not yet surfaced in most of the discussions regarding CaC is the fact of how easily the sticker may be forged/counterfeited.&nbsp; How long is it going to be before eBay and other markets are flooded with false CaC gold?</p><p><br /></p><p>As the market becomes saturated with supposed CaC slabs, and speculators begin their trading game at full speed, when the gold is found to be false, what&#039;s gonna happen then?&nbsp; Most certainly, CaC stickers will at that point become a moot point in the market, because speculators will shy away from them, because the faith in CaC would then be lost.</p><p><br /></p><p>But, even further, it is very possible that the faith in slabs themselves may lose hold on the market, and speculators may shy away even from that avenue.</p><p><br /></p><p>The whole TPG industry is upheld by speculators.&nbsp; That&#039;s not to say that only pure speculators are the ones that keep the TPGs going, but rather the fact that collector/investor speculation of the short term market is what drives the profits to the TPGs.&nbsp; This self same speculation is what will continue to drive profits, now toward CaC.</p><p><br /></p><p>The problem, though, is normally a market will build in the form of a pyramid.&nbsp; You would have the base of the market where the investor faith will have its foundation, and upon that investor faith, the rest of the industry will grow atop it.</p><p><br /></p><p>What I personally see with the numismatic investment world is an entirely different story.&nbsp; Instead I see the pyramid upside down, with bits and pieces being placed under the foundation, raising it higher into the air.&nbsp; CaC is just another smaller piece of stone raising the massive foundation of numismatics into the air.&nbsp; Eventually, that pyramid is going to topple, and every piece that stands atop the stones that fall away will fall to the ground.</p><p><br /></p><p>If CaC does truly gain any meaningful market stance (which it still has quite a long way to go to do so), and it eventually fails...I believe that it very well may take the TPGs with it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just some cud to chew on for a while.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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