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No "Good-Bye" to Stickers

Why stickers will stay - easiest value added.

In the old days dealers would "buy low, sell high", and this was easily done when doing their own grading - buy lower grade, sell higher grade. Simple and easy value added over normal buy/sell price spreads.

With the advent of TPGs, "buy low, sell high" became a little bit more difficult. Significant value added needed to come from upgrades, and the crack-out game worked to add value for a while, but, except for the best crack-out guys, resubmitting eventually became time consuming, costly, undependable and extremely frustrating.

So now, the stickers, a new, improved, nicer, easier, cheaper, faster, more predictable, more dependable way to add value (and "freshness") to inventory without any of the hassles of dealing (again, or, again and again) with TPGs on the same coin. In fact, once slabbed, a dealer won't ever have to mess with a TPG on a particular coin, until perhaps the TPG's gradeflation makes the coin's upgrade a slam dunk. Until that time, a sticker will very simply provide the added value/elements necessary to move the coin in the easiest (least frustrating), most timely and profitable method possible.

It's not so much "checking the checker", as it is "check-mating the checker". image

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    tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,147 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The vast majority of nice coins are owned by collectors. Thus the vast majority of 'value added' as you call it will flow to collectors.
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    wondercoinwondercoin Posts: 16,693 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I tend to agree with TDN's comment here. Since possibly 80+% of the coins currently reside in collectors' hands (just a guess) - 80% of the future "added value" goes to those collectors - no?

    Wondercoin
    Please visit my website at www.wondercoins.com and my ebay auctions under my user name www.wondercoin.com.
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    RegistryCoinRegistryCoin Posts: 5,111 ✭✭✭✭
    I agree with the theory that value will "flow" eventually to collectors, but any added value would be, let's say, "processed" through dealers, who will take as large a piece of the added value as possible, and there is nothing wrong with that. Let's just not give the impression that the sticker is like some free value bump for the ultimate collector.
    The value added can be shared, as it probably should be.
    The point is, the sticker will take away from TPG's potential profit as was generated by a coin being resubmitted time and time again, and reassign that value, in some sort of "split" (agreed?) to both the dealer and collector. I can see it more accurately and honestly described as a win-win for both the dealers and collectors, rather than a benefit primarily to collectors, but nevertheless, most likely a winning combo from the viewpoint of any in the biz, other than the TPGs.
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    FairlanemanFairlaneman Posts: 10,408 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Can't say "Good-Bye" when "Hello" was never said.

    Ken
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    MrEurekaMrEureka Posts: 23,945 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I see it as more of a zero-sum game. While stickers add value to some coins, they probably destroy about as much value in substandard (non-stickerable) coins. Not that this is a bad thing. The market is maturing. But let's not pretend that stickers are a windfall for the average collector. That's pure nonsense.
    Andy Lustig

    Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.

    Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
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    Registry:

    I agree with you premise that is is more efficient (and less costly) than the crack-out game; however, it magnifies the subjective aspect of grading, thus eroding confidence.

    Andy:

    You are spot-on with your comments concerning sub-standard coins.

    Here is another paradox- as the market "matures" how much do I lose in $$ value (and everybody else!) by not CACing my PQ coins?

    I also wonder what this will do to price guides like the grey sheet.....MS 65 1883 CC Morgan is "$$" BUT w/CAC sticker it's ???? As market acceptance gtrows (and it will) CAC is going to make a mint!
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    RegistryCoinRegistryCoin Posts: 5,111 ✭✭✭✭
    Perhaps, but everything with grading is subjective. A little more subjectivity can't hurt, that much. And does "consumer confidence" really have any importance at all to the sticker game? I believe that only "dealer confidence" really matters here. Think about it. Consumers will have the stickers whether they like it or not. It is easier and more profitable for dealers to play the sticker game, than the crack-out game, and that is all that counts here.
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    tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,147 ✭✭✭✭✭
    But let's not pretend that stickers are a windfall for the average collector. That's pure nonsense.

    Why, Andy, I'm surprised at you! Don't you listen to the posts here? Everyone is an expert and don't need no help telling a great coin from a not so great coin! Since that's the case, all the great coins are owned by the chatroom board members.

    No worries! image
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    LincolnCentManLincolnCentMan Posts: 5,347 ✭✭✭✭
    One thing about it, it's hard to see how it will hurt the market. People that trust their own judgement, will still trust their own judgement. People that dont, well, they can look for slabs with stickers.

    -David
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    jmski52jmski52 Posts: 22,380 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's the same coin either way.

    If the price goes up, someone pays and someone collects.

    The only cost adder is for JA's time and experience. However, the price adder for that service is speculative, just as TPG price adders are speculative.

    Nothing has changed.
    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.
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    Dan50Dan50 Posts: 1,809 ✭✭✭
    I don't require the stickers, but neither would it hurt my feelings if my coins have them.
    Dan
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    TahoeDaleTahoeDale Posts: 1,785 ✭✭✭
    There might be an area in sales, where a CAC sticker does not help the seller of an entire collection, but it will still aid the buyer wrt individual coins.

    Example: A recent sale of Barber coinage( the Southwest collection) had predominantly NGC graded coins. Several in each denomination were sticked, but the vast majority were not.

    I assume that all had gone through the process. Most did not meet the present status of "nice for grade".

    Such process tells the world, we have already tried that, so you are buying a coin that is in the bottom 25%(maybe) for the grade.

    But if the set was mainly PCGS, and all the NGC coins were stickered, I do see a big plus.

    In trying to price all the stickered coins I now see for sale, on websites, I do not see any increases in prices by the dealers. Many coins were on sites w/o stickers, and when they re-appear with stickers, prices have have not changed.

    It appears to just be an added guarantee for the grade assigned. This is quite beneficial to both parties. It will help sell the coin, and the buyer has the additional opinion.
    TahoeDale
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    etexmikeetexmike Posts: 6,795 ✭✭✭


    << <i>It appears to just be an added guarantee for the grade assigned. This is quite beneficial to both parties. It will help sell the coin, and the buyer has the additional opinion. >>



    I won't pay a huge premium for a stickered coin but I certainly don't mind paying a little extra either.

    The sticker will not make me buy a coin that I don't like any more than a slab insert will. I like the coin or I don't.

    The sticker on a coin just says that someone else thought the coin was pq for the grade along with myself. image I only own 3 stickered coins but have a few in my collection that I think are deserving of one and may give them a try in the future.

    -------------

    etexmike
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