Certified Acceptance Corporation is a Far Hills, New Jersey third-party coin certification company started in 2007 by coin dealer John Albanese. The firm evaluates certain numismatic U.S. coins already certified by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation or Professional Coin Grading Service. Coins that CAC deems high-end for their grades receive green stickers and coins that are under graded and would receive at least a green sticker in the next highest grade are bestowed gold stickers.
CAC founder John Albanese recently announced that the company will switch to a grading service starting early next year. Current CAC members received the following official letter announcing the switch.
There have been many rumors swirling about the possibility of CAC becoming a traditional grading service and I believe it is time to address them. Technically speaking, the transaction has not been completed yet. However, I am extremely confident that the transaction will close by the end of 2022. If everything goes according to plan, we anticipate a “soft opening” in the first quarter of 2023. The new company, CAC Grading, will have the same logo and will be located in a 29,000 square ft. facility in Virginia Beach.
We will keep our Bedminster, NJ office for stickering and customer service. Your CAC member number will remain the same but there will be a new application and submitter agreement as it will be a different corporation. We will also be adding approximately 100 new partners, many you are familiar with. I will be heavily involved as the president and CEO, signing a 10-year contract and spending at least one week per month in Virginia Beach until our team of 3 world class graders morphs into an interchangeable unit. In addition, I will be available 24/7 for tiebreakers if our team can’t come to a consensus.
We’ve already spent weeks collaborating with our grading team and I’m happy to report that we have slight differences of opinion in less than 2% of the coins. CAC stickering will continue through 2023, but our goal is to drastically reduce demand with a new pricing structure. Our loyal collector members will be entitled to submit 20 coins annually at the current normal tier rate and will only be charged for coins that sticker. After the 20-coin limit, the new rate will apply. Applicants that are currently on our waiting list will qualify for this service, as well.
It is very likely stickering will continue into the year 2033, but we do expect to eventually phase out the stickering service. Ultimately, collector members will determine the longevity of this service.
We will of course introduce a user-friendly registry program featuring two new registries. Our most popular registry will include NGC and PCGS coins, stickered or not, and the new CAC-holdered coins. We realize that there are many coins, especially from 1792-1807, that are virtually impossible to collect exclusively in CAC quality, so this registry has potential for broader inclusion. However, the CAC stickered and holdered coins will score higher than the non-CAC examples. The second registry, “CAC exclusive,” will consist solely of NGC-CAC, PCGS-CAC and CAC encapsulated coins. When you submit to us your coin information, your CAC coins will populate and be showcased on both registries.
In order to keep our backlog under control the new company, CAC grading, will continue our current waiting list policy into the foreseeable future. Our goal is to provide top-notch customer service and turnaround times and I don’t believe this could be accomplished with unfettered growth. We aim to be the most consistent premium grading service, not the largest.
As many of you know, we have suspended our economy tier and it is highly possible this may be permanent with the exception of the 20-coin limit mentioned above. If this creates a hardship, please E-mail me at AlbaneseCoins@aol.com and we will try our best to accommodate.
We understand you may have questions at this time. We are in the process of building a comprehensive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section regarding the transition, so please follow the link below to submit your questions or refer to the other questions and answers therein. Your questions and answers will help other members find what they need as well.
www.CACcoin.com/forums
We appreciate your support and business through this time of change and are working hard to clear our submission backlog.
Watch the CDN Publishing exclusive interview with John Albanese on CAC grading company launch.
