As rare coin prices in general have risen during this 5-year-old bull market trend we're still in, prices have differentiated those coins that are solid for a grade or considered premium quality (PQ) from those coins that barely make a grade, or are even considered to be overgraded.

Demand has been unprecedented during this time, leaving the vast majority of coins on the market picked over because they are considered low quality for their grades.

Some collectors, and even some dealers, who are relatively new to the scene have trouble recognizing coins that are solidly graded. However, "old school" collectors and dealers, and those who've educated themselves about grading standards, are having a very difficult time finding coins they consider acceptable.

A common belief among dealers and collectors is that over the years, Professional Coin Grading Service and Numismatic Guaranty Corp., which have each been grading coins for more than 20 years, have practiced "gradeflation," a loosening of grading standards, in order to entice more business (submissions). The belief some hold is that submitters have been receiving higher grades from one service, forcing the other to loosen its standards.

This whole process and resultant market condition has been a concern to buyers and sellers for many years. So a group of professional coin dealers has decided to take action to counteract this situation.

The group has formed a company – Collectors Acceptance Corp., known as CAC – to further verify and endorse, by a sticker affixed to grading service holders, only those coins they believe meet the generally accepted market standards for solidly graded and premium quality coins. They are only reviewing coins graded by PCGS and NGC.

The leader of this group is longtime dealer John Albanese, who was a co-founder of PCGS and the sole founder of NGC. Al¬banese is no longer associated with either grading service, and during recent years, he has been a wholesale dealer, considered by many to be a behind-the-scenes heavyweight.

Albanese said Oct.17 that CAC would begin to sticker (verify) PCGS and NGC coins the week of Oct. 22. The group, located in central New Jersey, has hired several professional graders from a wealth of numismatists located in that area, and will also use outside specialist consultants. The CAC is forming an electronic trading network to make a market in CAC-verified coins, with about 100 dealers already signed up to participate.

Fees will start at $10 for coins valued at less than $500, and rise up to $100, with the fee tied to the insurance value. The firm will produce a population report, which will be available online free. It is building a reference grading set to be used as the standard by its graders.

Albanese stated that his reason for forming this service is that today's buyers are more sophisticated than in the past, demanding high-quality coins for their money. He said that low-quality coins have contributed to keeping prices for solidly graded coins low because dealers posting "sight-unseen" don't want to overpay for what might turn out to be a low-quality coin they are committed to purchase.

COINS THAT ARE high quality for the grade continue to be in short supply at shows like that shown above. That dearth of material, and uncertainty in the marketplace about what constitutes "high quality," has led to the formation of the Collectors Acceptance Corp., which will "sticker" certain coins.