CAC - Certified Acceptance Certification, is a certification company that evaluates certain numismatically valuable U.S coins already certified by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) or Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and allocates whether or not the assigned grade meets or exceeds CAC's strict grading standards.
More often than not quality means more expensive, this too holds true in the Numismatic industry. Not all coins are made equal, which is why third party grading services like PCGS and NGC exist. They serve to assign a grade and guarantee the authenticity of a coin. However within a grade according to CAC, for many years, coin dealers and advanced collectors have used the letters A, B, and C among themselves to further describe coins within an assigned grade. C indicates low-end for the grade, B indicates solid for the grade, and A indicates high-end. CAC will only award stickers to coins in the A or B category. C coins, although accurately graded, are returned without a CAC sticker.
CAC approval is becoming increasingly vital in today’s coin market, in both the long and short term, as the sticker can assist numismatists looking for crack-outs as well as those looking for serious long-term investments. CAC coins affect both ends of the market and everything in between, from the cheapest gradable items through to the greatest numismatic rarities.
Novice coin collectors can get a head start in building their collections, by skipping the phase of trial-and-error of acquiring non choice coins by collecting CAC coins from the onset. Even coins at or around a hundred dollars in value garner tremendous attention when numismatists see that green sticker.
Especially the most advanced collectors in Numismatics have an incredible use for CAC approval when attempting completion of finest known registry sets. As multiple coins can be tied at the highest grade but perhaps just one has a CAC sticker setting it apart from the rest as the clear finest. These CAC coins hold their value and time and again has proved to increase in value versus far more than non-CAC coins. Furthermore, the perception of future prospective buyers is that CAC coins provide an extra layer of defense with regard to authenticity, are more valuable, higher in quality as well as in overall demand. Unfortunately, counterfeiting has become a growing problem in the industry. Thus, the premium charged for CAC coins is well worth the added cost as served by their tampered resistant sticker of approval.
As a collector, the worst feeling in the world could be regretting an addition to the collection. All purchases should be an enhancement. CAC has an outstanding reputation in the numismatic industry that is attached to every coin that they “approve” for a sticker. It is evident that the benefits of purchasing CAC coins are truly beneficial to the buyer and marketplace. This certification provides collectors with an unmatched level of confidence and peace of mind that they are making a sound investment.
CAC was founded by John Albanese in 2007, as a third-party to grading services. He was also the co-founder of PCGS, started in 1986 and founder of NGC, which began in 1987.
CAC- stickered coins almost always fetch premiums. See here for numerous examples - https://caccoin.com/news/
Premiums for green sticker coins usually range from single digit percentiles to 92% or more, with gold sticker specimens yielding much more. Gold stickers are affixed to the coins that are found to be high-end for the next highest grade (or even finer).
Hundreds of thousands of coins have been submitted to CAC over the years. The incentive for collectors is the hope their coin will appear "solid for the grade" in the eye of the CAC evaluator and will earn a Green Sticker. Since the Green Sticker has become a telltale sign for quality on the marketplace, it is more likely to sell for a better price when compared to an otherwise virtually identical coin (i.e., same coin type, grade, grade service, etc.)
In addition to attracting additional bidders for CAC-verified coins, CAC actively makes a market in CAC coins, further backing up their product. CAC is an active bidder on many CAC coins. In fact, CAC has purchased nearly $600 million of CAC verified coins. With CAC, prices for the solid quality coins can be untethered from the lesser quality counterparts.
In every field, there are a select few companies that represent the best of the best. Coins are no exception. Now there's an easy way to identify select quality coins within any particular grade: Just look for the CAC verification sticker.
Since 2023, CAC has now evolved into CACG, a grading company like NGC and PCGS. Click here to read more.
