Although not a coin collector, Robert McGough owned a coin that was meaningful to him. He had owned it all of his life. As an eight-month-old baby he visited his great-grandmother who was a practical nurse in the employ of an older lady, well into her 90s.

This woman was enamored with the smile and disposition of her caretaker’s great-grandchild. At the end of the visit, she gave to the baby a gold coin that she had been given as a young girl nearly 90 years before.

McGough’s grandmother and the woman who gifted him the coin both passed away when he was quite young. The coin sat tucked away for many years, and was seldom looked at. On those occasions when it was taken out, he remembers being told, “You got that as a baby,” and it was something that he owned his entire life.

Now 66, McGough sought to investigate the coin, as he was curious about its value. The coin was an 1805 five dollar gold piece, and it was not obvious how to determine its value. Just 33,183 were made, and there is a wide range in value depending on condition. But McGough’s primary concern was finding someone he could trust, because he didn’t know any dealers near him in Tennessee and didn’t want to be misled about the value of the coin.

Some Internet searching led him to dealer John Albanese, and a few phone conversations made him comfortable with him and the procedures for shipping the coin to Albanese with proper insurance.

After reviewing the coin, Albanese recommended having it certified so that it could realize its full market value. It was submitted to NGC, where it graded MS 63, putting it in the upper echelons of known examples. McGough could not have been a better steward for it. The coin is an attractive tan gold color and has a perfect original skin. It’s just some light abrasion and a few wispy lines that keep it from higher grade, and it is simply a wonderful choice uncirculated example.

While nothing has been decided, McGough comments that, “Getting the coin certified was a step toward selling the coin. It’s been a very good experience to get this accurate information.”

Change may be in the air at one or more coin grading services, but dealers, collectors and investors will find business as usual at Certified Acceptance Corp. (CAC).

That’s the company’s message to the hobby in the wake of reports that at least one of the two largest grading services is considering the establishment of “premium-quality” grade designations.

CAC examines and evaluates coins that have been certified by either the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) or the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America (NGC). It then affixes a distinctive green sticker to the holder of each coin which, in its judgment, fully merits the grade that was assigned. Each sticker incorporates a tamper-evident hologram.

According to Albanese, CAC will continue to evaluate submissions, and determine whether to award stickers to those coins, strictly in the context of the basic numerical grades assigned by either PCGS or NGC. He said it will disregard any additional descriptive words or symbols.

“We don’t want buyers and sellers to get the impression that by stickering a coin, CAC is confirming someone else’s ‘PQ’ designation,” Albanese said.

CAC makes a market in coins that it has stickered, and its disregard of PQ-type designations will be reflected in its buying and selling prices.

“For example, CAC’s bid price for an 1892-O Barber quarter graded MS65 is $1,150,” Albanese said. “If the coin was graded PQ and had a CAC sticker, our buy price would remain the same – $1,150. If it had a star plus our sticker, we’d still pay $1,150. And if it came with an asterisk or a rainbow or a halo, we’d still pay $1,150 – as long as it had a sticker.”

Since opening for business in late 2007, CAC has received more than 144,000 submissions from member dealers and collectors, and has awarded green stickers to just over 68,000 of these. The declared insurance value of these coins totals about $800 million.

To date, the company has bought and sold CAC-stickered coins with a wholesale trading volume of nearly $150 million.
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This wholly original and beautifully struck specimen is one of the finest our graders have ever seen, and is now the highest-graded coin of the issue and the sole example at this level.

NGC graders are fortunate to have seen more coins than anyone, but they always take time to appreciate truly special coins. The unexpected encounter with this 1872-CC $20 is one such example. Wholly original and beautifully struck, it was instantly recognizable as the finest our graders had ever seen. It graded MS 62 , making it both the highest-graded coin of the issue and the sole example at this level.

Carson City Double Eagles are compelling coins. They combine their historical intrigue as coins of the pioneer West with their significant scarcity. The 1872-CC is the third $20 gold piece issue from the Carson City Mint. Since the 1870-CC is a major rarity and the 1871-CC is very elusive in all grades, the 1872-CC is, in contrast, considered to be “available” to collectors. Virtually all of the 26,900 struck likely entered circulation, and certainly fewer than 20 uncirculated examples survive.

Most 1872-CC double eagles show heavy bag marks; those that are spared heavy wear can exhibit a pleasing strike; however this example is particularly sharp and crisp. How this coin survived the rough handling that is typical of the issue is not known. After certification, NGC was informed that this example resided in a private family collection and was purchased in Europe during the 1920s only with a small group of similar era US gold coins.

More information on NGC and the services they offer can be found at the NGC Website