Legal

GRADING POLICY

 

CAC Grading, LLC (CAC) strives to provide a world-class third-party certification service. To that end, all U.S. and World coins graded and encapsulated by CAC in CAC Holders are guaranteed to be genuine, authentic, and not over-graded (subject to the terms hereof and all other appliable CAC polices, the “Guarantee”).

 

Subject to the terms and limitations herein, any eligible coin Owner, to the extent such Owner is harmed financially by buying an eligible CAC Holdered coin that has been proven to be over-graded by CAC, can petition CAC to re-evaluate the coin’s grade and authenticity. If the coin is found by CAC to be over-graded or not authentic, the Owner of the coin will be entitled to the difference between the current Fair Market Value (defined below) of the incorrectly over-graded (by CAC) coin and the current Fair Market Value of the coin if it had been correctly graded by CAC (the “Guarantee Amount”). Owner may elect to (a) receive the Guarantee Amount in exchange for having the coin re-Holdered with the corrected information, then keep the updated coin in such new Holder, or (b) sell the coin to CAC for the current Fair Market Value at the original grade, in which case Owner must transfer possession and ownership of the coin to CAC.

 

ELIGIBLE COVERED COINS

The CAC Guarantee applies only to coins, tokens and medals, that have been authenticated and graded by CAC for a Submitter and encapsulated by CAC in CAC Holders (collectively, “Covered Coins”). The CAC Guarantee does not cover anything other than Covered Coins, including without limitation, bullion coins and sample products (collectively, “Non-Covered Coins”).

 

ELIGIBLE OWNERS

This Guarantee only applies to verified owners of a coin that has previously been authenticated and graded by CAC and remaining in its original CAC Holder, without tampering (as further qualified herein, the “Owner”). This Guarantee does not apply to the Owner of the coin at the time of original submission, including the original submitter’s agent or representative (such as a CAC authorized submitter). In fulfillment of this Guarantee, the Owner may be required to provide information and available documentation regarding the transaction history of a particular coin, including the date purchased, the purchase price (with receipts and other reasonable verification), the seller and the transaction amount, and other reasonable proof of ownership. The coin Owner may also be required to minimize damage and attempt to reverse a prior transaction. Owner may further be required to provide proof to the effect that negotiations to reverse a prior transaction have failed. Owner acknowledges that inability to provide requested information and/or non-cooperation in providing requested information constitutes a failure of an essential condition to this Guarantee and will result in the coin’s exclusion from this Guarantee.

 

The purpose of the CAC Guarantee is to place the coin’s Owner back in the position Owner would be in had there not been any over-grading by CAC. Under no circumstance will compensation be paid in instances where Owner has suffered no actual damages as a result of the over-grading or in reliance on the CAC Guarantee. The remedies herein are the exclusive remedies provided under this Guarantee. By making a claim under this Guarantee, Owner agrees to the exclusive remedies provided herein and waives its right to all other remedies including, without limitation, through litigation.

 

EXCLUSIONS FROM THE CAC GUARANTEE

 Without limitation, the CAC Guarantee does not cover any of the following:

1. Any Non-Covered Items (as defined above).
2. Any coin in counterfeit CAC Holders.
3. Any coin which has been removed from the CAC Holder or any coin for which the CAC Holder shows evidence of tampering; You remove (or attempt to remove) a coin from a CAC Holder at your risk.
4. Any coins and/or Holders that have been tampered with inside the CAC holder (for example, without limitation, people may heat a holder and/or blow chemicals into the holder in order to artificially change the color or toning of a coin)
5. Any coin which has been environmentally damaged subsequent to certification, e.g., due to improper storage or natural disasters such as fire and flood or from other harsh environmental conditions (for example, without limitation, if your coins are damaged from abuse, or other improper storage conditions such as (but not limited to) extreme temperature, moisture, humidity, damaging environmental conditions, excessive light, excessive motion or vibration or any other extreme conditions).
6. Any coin exhibiting other environmental deterioration subsequent to certification, including without limitation, spotting, hazing, PVC contamination, changes in color, and corrosion. Because the color and surfaces of certain coins, such as copper, bronze, brass or copper-plated coins, and modern coins dated 1965 to present can change due to environmental factors, including weather and improper storage, CAC does not guarantee against changes in the color of coins, or against spotting subsequent to grading and encapsulation by CAC.
7. Any premium values for unattributed varieties.
8. Changes in a coin's status in the CAC Set Registry. The CAC Set Registry occasionally makes changes in set composition. Coins are sometimes added to certain sets and coins are sometimes dropped from certain sets. CAC does not guarantee that any coin you have graded or listed in a Set Registry will remain part of any set in the CAC Set Registry.
9. To the extent because a specific coin’s status in the numismatic community has changed.
10. This guarantee shall not apply to any coin as to which a clerical or mechanical error has been made with respect to the description of the coin (e.g., if a person could or should be able to tell by looking at the coin that the description on the holder is or might be wrong), as determined by CAC in its sole and reasonable discretion. It is the duty of the buyer and seller of a coin to examine such coin for a clerical or mechanical error. IF YOU NOTICE ANY CLERICAL OR MECHANICAL ERRORS, YOU MUST NOTIFY CAC IMMEDIATELY and send the coin to CAC for correction. As the sole remedy, any clerical or mechanical errors will be remedied free of charge by updating the encapsulation to show an appropriate label.

Such errors may include, for example, without limitation:

• A mislabeled date, mintmark, denomination type, variety or other attribution (e.g., the information listed on the holder does not match that of the coin in the holder).
• A designation that is egregiously incorrect. For example, a Franklin Half mis-labeled as Full Bell Lines that clearly does not have Full Bell Lines.
• Proofs shown as regular strikes and regular strikes shown as proofs.
• An apparent clerical input mistake with respect to the actual grade of the coin, for example, without limitation, if a holder shows the coin as MS65, but the coin has extreme bag marks such that it would grade MS60 at best, or a coin labeled MS 68 instead of AU 58. For purposes hereof, a difference of more than three points on the grading scale would be considered evidence of a clerical error on a coin graded MS60 or above; for coins graded below MS60, a difference of two grading categories (including but not limited to:  good G, very good VG, fine F, very fine VF, extra fine XF, & almost uncirculated AU) would be considered evidence of a clerical error (e.g. a coin graded AU that is clearly VF).
• Different information or grades printed on the CAC Holder versus as posted by CAC online (e.g., in any CAC controlled website purportedly referencing the same coin), whether on any CAC Certification Verification page, or in any gallery or community showcase or Set Registry Pages, etc.).

CAC shall make the sole reasonable determination as to whether any such exemptions apply (e.g., without limitation, whether tampering, environmental damage, etc., has occurred).

 

ADDITIONAL TERMS

Copper, Bronze & Brass. Coins made of copper, bronze, or brass, or coins which are copper-plated can change over time and are NOT guaranteed.

 

Third Party Information and Attributions. Information listed on a label that originates from a third party (including, without limitation, any information from the US Mint) and any attributions (including variety attributions, reference attributions and pedigree attributions) are NOT guaranteed. CAC will attribute those varieties that it deems, in its sole reasonably exercised opinion, to be major varieties that are widely collected and accepted as legitimate varieties by the relevant collecting community at the time the Coin is graded. New information may cause CAC to no longer recognize an attribution that was previously assigned, which, again, is not covered by this Guarantee. It is not guaranteed that a particular variety or designation will always be recognized, and attribution policies are subject to change without notice.

 

Designations. The following designations, including any combination thereof, are considered to be part of the assigned numeric grade for the purposes of this Guarantee: Plus (+), Cameo, Deep Cameo, Prooflike (PL), Deep Mirror Prooflike (DPL), BN, RB, RD, 6FS, FB, FBL, FH, FT, Matte and Satin. Special designations (such as, without limitation, First Day of Delivery, Advanced Delivery, First Delivery, and Last Day of Delivery) or pedigrees are not guaranteed, and if a special designation or pedigree is incorrectly assigned to a Coin it is the duty of Submitter or Owner to return that Coin for correction. Further, CAC's calculation of a Coin's Fair Market Value will be based on a generic example of the Coin at the original grade without any special designation or pedigree, except for those designations explicitly listed above as being considered to be part of the assigned numeric grade.

 

Fair Market Value. CAC will determine, if and as necessary, and in its sole reasonably exercised discretion, the current wholesale “Fair Market Value” of the coin if it were to be sold. CAC will determine the current Fair Market Value of a coin based upon what CAC believes, in its sole reasonably exercised opinion, to be reliable current market information. CAC may use actual pricing and sales information available to it, including prices in the actual transaction history of the coin in question. However, due to the volatile nature of the market and Internet auctions/sales as well as the differences in buying habits of different individuals, such information may not necessarily represent the accurate current Fair Market Value of any particular coin, which again, will be determined by CAC in its sole reasonably exercised discretion. In determining the Fair Market Value, CAC will not be bound by the values included within any specific published price guide(s). CAC's calculation of a Coin's wholesale Fair Market Value will be based on a generic example of the coin at the original grade without any variety, reference or pedigree attribution.

 

Cooperation with Insurer. Owner shall, at CAC’s request, fully cooperate with any insurance investigation or claim adjustment process. Owner acknowledges that a refusal to so cooperate will result in the coin’s exclusion from this Guarantee.

 

Knowledge of Error. If Owner is informed by CAC that the Coin is not genuine, has been over-graded, or that the CAC label has a clerical error, it is the duty of Owner to immediately return the coin. If Owner does not immediately return the Coin after such notice, then (a) this Guarantee will no longer apply to that coin, (b) if Owner sells, trades or otherwise transfers ownership of the coin instead of returning it, then Owner may be liable to the buyer for fraud or otherwise be subject to legal recourse, and (c) CAC reserves all rights to pursue any available remedies against Owner.

 

Submitters, Owners and prospective buyers of CAC-certified coins are strongly encouraged to enter a Coin’s CAC certification number in the CAC Certification Verification page of the CAC website for notification of possible errors.

 

In no event will (i) a coin that has been determined to be not genuine be returned in a CAC holder; or (ii) a coin that has been determined to be over-graded or incorrectly described be returned encapsulated with an incorrect CAC label.

 

EXCEPT FOR ANY EXPRESS WARRANTIES SET FORTH IN THIS GUARANTEE AND EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT OTHERWISE REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW, CAC DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING CAC, ITS AFFILIATES, AND/OR THE SERVICES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL CAC OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, OR ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS OR AGENTS, BE LIABLE TO CUSTOMER OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THIS GUARANTEE IN NO EVENT SHALL CAC’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY EXCEED THE FEES PAID FOR THE SERVICES ORDERED BY THE OWNER OF SUCH COIN(S) (INCLUDING CAC AFFILIATES, AND ITS OR THEIR EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS OR AGENTS), ARISING FROM ANY CAUSE, ACT, OMISSION OR OTHER CIRCUMSTANCE.

 

YOU HEREBY WAIVE ANY RIGHTS TO TRIAL BY JURY.

 

Severability. If any part of this Guarantee shall be declared invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, it shall not affect the validity of the balance of this Guarantee. In such circumstance, the provision declared invalid/unenforceable shall be re-drafted as closely to the original provision as allowed by law, so as to give effect to CAC and its affiliates’ intent.

 

Other Policies. This Guarantee is just one part of the overall terms and conditions applicable to any Owner’s submission of coins to CAC. Be sure to review all other applicable policies, terms and conditions on our website.

 

Changes to this Policy.  We may update this Policy from time to time, and so you should review this Policy periodically. Your continued use of any Services constitutes your acceptance of any such changes.