By CoinWeek News Staff….
The Certified Acceptance Corporation, also known as CAC, has notified collectors that beginning January 1, 2015, it will no longer accept Colonial coins for certification. A short email sent to collectors gives no reason for the decision, but does state that Colonial issues make up a very small percentage of CAC’s sale and submission volume.
CAC also published the news on Twitter.
CoinWeek will follow up with CAC founder John Albanese to find out what led up to this decision and to also find out whether the launch of the modern coin certification service Collectibles Quality Assurance Company (QA✓) will have any effect on CAC’s acceptance of 20th-century “modern” coins.
It’s about time CAC realized they could not ascribe an above average appearance for the assigned grade of the vast majority of American colonial coins. That was a given from the start. Yes, that can be done for a number of “colonials” like the English-struck series like Grate cents, Rosa Americanas and Hibernias, even Voce Populis. And for a small group of American-struck colonials. But not for the vast majority of idiosyncratic state coinage, each coin of which seem to have its own “personality”. With planchet flaws, striking weakness, different qualities of metal used within the same series. Colonial coin collectors in the main despise slabs and ridicule slabbing grades, many actually choosing to remove an acquired coin from its plastic coffin for the pleasure of “hands-on” and for examining up close and personal under a glass.
This is also true for most collectors of early half and large cents while collecting. Ironically, when it comes time to auction a collection, then the desire among collectors is to have their coins slabbed as that is what the general market demands and prices maximize.
I agree with you Alan,
I think to a certain extent, the same conversation could be head with early copper. EAC grading methods and industry “standard” methods differ so greatly, that begs the question, whose opinion should matter more in the marketplace?
I’ve just reviewed the Donald Partrick Mass silver in the Heritage Jan 2015 FUN sale which is online. Many of the Mass silver pcs are “green beaned” CAC. I’ve seriously collected high grade Mass colonial silver since 1960 (yes, while I was in high school)and have attended and participated in all the major auctions of this specialty all these decades. So I know what’s out there – and most of the Partrick CAC’ed Mass silver, while quite decent condition, do not remotely deserve CAC tags. They are for the most part strictly average for the slab grade given, which in itself is overblown. Thankfully, NGC will no longer CAC colonials.