Yes you have to find the original registration. I once paid a deposit to a car and the owner at the time of the sale mentioned that the original CR was lost. To me i didn't mind at all as the car was mint and it was the genuine owner of the car. ( Was a DR). After that i went ahead and paid a deposit and told them that i will pay in full once the New CR (Duplicate) was issued. When the Dr went to RMV to apply for a NEW CR they checked their records and has told that they haven't sent the Original CR in the first place, and immediately printed a new one. I was told by the owner of the car that many people came to see the vehicle but people were reluctant to buy cos the CR would be a duplicate. She also gave it to me about 150,000 less than the what the car was worth at the time. To be honest I had no issues with the book being duplicate. In the end i was really lucky to end up getting the Original CR as well as the car at a great price.