Now that CAC Slabs are here, what are they worth?

WITH THE LONG-ANTICIPATED release of CAC grading slabs into the market, it’s only natural that the next question on many minds is, “what are these coins worth?” Nearly everyone I speak to has asked me how Greysheet is going to approach the pricing of CAC slabs, relative to other slabs (PCGS and NGC), stickered coins, and so on. At the risk of disappointing all of my readers, the answer is simply that we’re just going to have to wait and see.

Here at Greysheet we don’t set prices with what I call “hopeful intent.” I find that other price guides place values on items based with the anticipation that if they set the prices at a certain level the market will follow. Since 1963, the tradition of Greysheet (and now CPG^®, for retail extrapolation) values are based on real-world market activity. We don’t listen to external voices that have a stake in inflating values for the purposes of selling coins higher than the market. Greysheet is the only company that objectively sets U.S. coin values based on strict standards that adhere to our ethical compass. We set values that we would be comfortable with if we were buying and selling these coins for our own inventories, or collections.

What does this have to do with pricing the new CAC slabs you ask? Well, the fact is there is no real market data yet for the new CAC graded coins. For the first several months, the coins that come out are going to be artificially scarce. That is, there are so few CAC grading slabs on the market that people will pay a significant premium just to own one. We are not interested in this early-adopter premium. Especially on classic coins, I would like to see market prices settle in and establish themselves. This will take some time.

The CAC company itself has stated that they will maintain the strict grading standards long adhered to by the stickering service, which would suggest to me that slabbed CAC coins should be valued the same as their stickered counterparts. Will this be the case over time? It’s too early to know. I think it will be a year before the market really establishes itself for classic U.S. coins in CAC slabs.

At the same time, one has to wonder what will happen to values on CAC stickered coins. John Albanese, CAC founder and president, has stated that he intends to maintain the stickering operation in New Jersey for an unstated period of time while the new division maintains its footing. But let’s say, for argument, that CAC eventually stops stickering coins. With no more stickered coins coming out, will the already-stickered coins be regarded like old-holder PCGS and NGC slabs—immediate relics of modern times past? I think so, and if CAC stops stickering Greysheet will face a difficult decision on whether to continue assessing valuation on the frozen pool of stickered coins. Allow me to explain further.

There are certain groups of certified coins to which we intentionally do not assign values: among these are premium-toned coins, old holders, signature labels, and specific pedigrees. In our interpretation the market may (or may not) assign premium values to these items based on current trends and market perceptions. A label signed by a recent U.S. Mint Director may be very popular today, but could easily change in five years when that person is forgotten, or becomes President! Rainbow toning on an 1881-S Morgan dollar seen as a premium today may be a negative tomorrow. Neither of these are intended to be real, but I hope to illustrate a point that the coin, grading service, and grade should be the item we are valuing, not the specifics of the holder, or perceptual variants like toning. If we get too far down that rabbit hole we will need 1,000 prices for every coin, and that would be untenable.

How do we reconcile all these factors, you ask? Simple. We will continue to build our massive and growing online database with auction records, pricing histories, and the like so collectors like yourself can use our base valuations to make the smartest buying and selling decisions possible.

In the meantime, please email me with your thoughts on the new CAC slabs at john@greysheet.com.