So I get that CAC checks the grading companies to make sure they're not over grading their coins.... but even NGC and PCGS's standards are different from one another. So according to their website, All quoted directly from www.caccoin.com "SETTING THE STANDARD FOR QUALITY. A LITTLE STICKER MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE. Within each number of the coin grading scale is a small range of condition from low-end to high-end. Certified coins of the same grade can be of varying quality. Many of today’s collectors want coins that are solid or premium quality for their assigned grade. CAC holds coins to a higher standard so you can be confident in the value of yours. We verify previously graded coins … and award our sticker only to those coins that meet the standard for today’s selective buyer. WHAT THE CAC STICKER MEANS: • Verified. Your coin has been verified as meeting the standard for strict quality within its grade. • Guaranteed. CAC stands behind our verification by making markets in most actively traded coins. THE CAC STICKER IS BACKED BY EXPERIENCE. CAC was founded by leading members of the numismatic community, including John Albanese, a respected authority on coin grading and the rare coin market." ******************************** I want all of my coins to have the CAC sticker because I like to think the coins I submit are PQ and have nice eye appeal. I hope to one day actually get a GOLD bean on one of my coins... BUUUUUUUT if you buy into the entire CAC you would think that any coin sent to them that doesn't sticker is over graded and shouldn't be bought. Yet, personally I've sent in 2 coins that I thought were locks for GOLD beans that didn't even get a green sticker. A 1853 Seated Half and a 1838(sm stars but NGC calls it large stars because it's not a late enough die) Half Dime were both sent to CAC which were both returned as rejects. The 1853 went in for reconsideration at NGC and the 1838 Half Dime cross over to NGC, both coins upgraded by one grade. What was sent to CAC and failed I was tempted to send them to CAC to see if they would sticker at their new grades but decided against it. I don't send many things to CAC but the ones I do I think are PQ for their grade and have excellent eye appeal. I did a 3 person group sub and the results were posted last week. I personally went 3/5 but the other coins went 0/5.... one of which I also thought had a shot at a gold. I didn't photograph the other coins that I sent in as I was waiting to shoot them with their stickers, but we see how that went. I'll add them up on here when I get them back hopefully in the next day or two. Here is my 3/5 from CAC PASSED NGC PF66BN NGC MS66 Did Not Pass So does anyone actually know what the true standards are for CAC? I'm just trying to figure out what the standards are so I know what I should or shouldn't send them. I'm 1/7 on Seated halves.... so I don't send those in anymore....
I'm afraid I'm only here to say that's a lovely half dollar with rays. I love the coins with rays and just wish they were more affordable. I'm sorry you missed out with your CAC submissions.
There is no public set of standards as far as I know. Part of the whole CAC equation is that they are willing to buy stickered coins at their bid. So some of the coins that don’t sticker might look good to you but they just don’t like them (the grade can be fine but maybe the color is off) and wouldn’t want to have to purchase them (they can afford them but just don’t want them). The standards can also be very different depending on the series. In general, eye appeal (as always) is something to take into consideration (I’ve seen nice toners pass at CAC when that same coin without color likely would not). Edit: you can also just ask baseball...he basically works for them
Where that part of the equation is referred to as B, the mathematically inclined will appreciate that the entire equation is B + ε.
Thats 45S walker is sweet. I have never put much stock into CAC. Why should a little green sticker make a coin worth more than one without a sticker? It's like a ++ grade lol.
At the end of the day, CAC is pretty much just a second opinion on the coin. No matter what anyone says about a coin, you should buy it if you like it. There is no objective way of measuring a coins beauty. If you like a coin and CAC didn’t, then what does it matter? You shouldn’t need someone else’s approval to like a coin.
True, but it seems the norm for US coins. This is a good reason to consider collecting ancient coins. The concept of quality is important in ancient coins and takes time to learn, almost in the same way grading does for US coins. But there is far less pressure to collect the highest grades and make sure they really do correspond to some grade. Take a look at the CoinTalk ancient-coin forum and see if you don't find it interesting: https://www.cointalk.com/forums/ancients/ Beginners can look here at a thread with resources for beginners: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-coins-beginners’-faq-thread.324858/ Books: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/books-on-ancient-roman-and-byzantine-coins.324689/ Dealers: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/dealers.html When you check out some ancient coin threads you will often see responses like "Nice coin!" but no responses like "Is this really MS62?" You don't have to worry that the grade is a bit wrong. I repeat my agreement with Sully:
Something can be low end for the grade or market acceptable which makes it properly graded and still not sticker. You can call and discuss the coins that failed with them sometimes. In general though better coins for the grade with eye appeal, not net graded, original, good surfaces ect. They're very tough on seated stuff
