By Douglas LePre – Senior Portfolio Manager at Blanchard and Company, Inc …..
At the beginning of 2016, CoinWeek published an article I wrote discussing coins approved by the Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC). In that article I discussed briefly CAC’s inception, the initial reaction to its existence, and the positive effect that CAC has had on the coin market. That column generated a lot of questions from readers that I wanted to address in this follow up.
Over the years there have been a number of failed grading services that tried to compete with PCGS and NGC, and in general I’ve found that many people’s automatic response to anything new that promises to assist in the advancement of their coins’ stature and values is to simply ignore it.
I think one of the reasons for CAC’s success is that they aren’t competing with the grading services but instead are better defining the findings of these grading services. In speaking with CAC Founder John Albanese and active dealers in today’s market about the value that CAC has brought to the industry, each of them has mentioned an increased value of between 10%-20% on coins that possess a CAC sticker versus coins that don’t.
And while there is no definitive CAC price guide, technically speaking there are no true definitive numismatic price guides. Today’s price guides are meant to be used as rangefinders. As many collectors know, there are some coins that aren’t worth wholesale bid prices and others that are worth well above retail ask prices listed in the numerous industry price guides. CAC has been able to prove its value to the market by identifying premium quality coins that are at the high end of their grades and that exhibit outstanding eye appeal – and the service is here to stay. This is a great benefit to coin enthusiasts, collectors and investors alike!
Numerous people have asked how a collector or investor determines if their coins should be presented to CAC for consideration, and what is the process for submitting coins to CAC? These three factors will help determine if a coin has a good chance of being earmarked by CAC as deserving of its recognition and approval:
- If you own PCGS- or NGC-graded coins that you consider to be premium quality for the grade, and you’ve owned them for five or more years, then you are a candidate! CAC has only been doing business for about eight years, so it’s fair to assume that your coins have not been previously presented to them for their approval (CAC only accepts a coin for consideration once).
- If you are someone who has PCGS coins in the Old Green Holder, often referred to as OGH or “rattlers” as some like to call them, then you are also a candidate due to the fact that these are the early generation holders that PCGS used when they first entered the marketplace. This is significant, as in the beginning both PCGS and NGC were very conservative in their grading practices as they were both new. As a result there are many coins in the market that were under-graded to air on the side of caution. Better to be too conservative rather than not conservative enough, especially on inception!
- If you own or have owned coins that were not previously graded but have presented them or are considering presenting them to either grading service then you are also someone who should consider CAC as an option.
The only coins that need to be carefully examined are those that have been purchased in the past five years. While the inception of CAC was some eight years ago they have only really been taken as a serious benefit to the market for the past five.
The reason I reference this is because CAC will still charge you a service fee to turn away any coins that have been previously presented to them for their consideration but that have not received the CAC sticker of merit. I mention this as a diagnostic of the process as it is not a hard and fast rule. If you believe that you own a quality coin that deserves CAC’s attention, then by all means present it to them. The worst thing that happens is you don’t get the sticker but you still own a coin that has tremendous eye appeal.
The general public currently has to go through an approved dealer in order to submit coins to CAC. If you have a collection that you would like to have inspected, or if you have any further questions as to the process of submitting to either the grading services or CAC, contact Blanchard or an authorized dealer to evaluate your coins.
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About Douglas LePre
Douglas LePre has been servicing clients of the numismatic community for 30 years and has a comprehensive understanding of the marketplace and its products. Having placed some of the scarcest coins in the market Douglas has established himself as someone who recognizes quality and makes every effort to ensure that his clientele get the highest class of rarity for their portfolio.
Douglas LePre
Senior Portfolio Manager
Blanchard and Company, Inc.
866-796-9692
[email protected]
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