The following post is pulled from Coin World editor Steve Roach’s Market Analysis column in the Aug. 18 issue.

If green Certified Acceptance Corp. stickers indicate that a certified coin is nice for the grade, what does a gold CAC sticker mean? Last year CAC founder John Albanese described the coveted gold sticker as identifying a coin that could easily receive a green CAC sticker at the next highest grade level.

Only around 2 percent of the coins that CAC has examined have received a CAC gold sticker, and they’re valued by collectors. 

Here is one of three examples, sold at recent auctions, that teach different lessons about valuing CAC gold-stickered coins:

The coin: 1936 Wisconsin commemorative half dollar, MS-64, CAC (gold)

The price: $246.75

The story: When a coin has a large price jump between grades, a gold CAC sticker can make a huge difference in price between it and a coin with a green CAC sticker (or no sticker at all).

For other coins, a gold CAC sticker is fun, but doesn’t make a coin substantially more expensive. 

This was the case with a PCGS Mint State 64 Wisconsin Territorial Centennial commemorative half dollar in an older-generation green-label PCGS holder that brought $246.75 at an April 20 Heritage auction.

To put it in perspective, this is the same price that a Numismatic Guaranty Corp. MS-65 example brought at a July 22 Heritage auction, and more than the $170.38 that an unstickered PCGS MS-64 piece brought on July 1. 

On June 15 an example in an NGC MS-65 holder with a gold CAC sticker brought $270.25, the same amount that an NGC MS-66 example sold for at a Heritage auction the following week.

Read the rest of Steve Roach's Aug. 18 Market Analysis:

• Proof 1911 Liberty Head nickel with gold CAC sticker sells for $2,702 in recent auction
• 1974-S Eisenhower dollar with CAC's gold sticker sold in GreatCollections.com auction

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