PSA Flood
psutoon
Posts: 2 ✭
Hello,
I am curious to hear some of your thoughts regarding PSA vs. BGS. I am one of the few collectors that is an actual collector. I always buy but never sell. I do not trade with other collectors either. No I am not anti-social 
.
I think investors (collectors looking to turn in a profit) are seemingly always getting their cards graded by PSA. I think it is because it is easier to get a PSA 10 vs. BGS 9 or 9.5. I do not know how cards are graded and what techniques both PSA and BGS apply to our cards so I am clearly making a blanket statement/assumption here.
I am always looking on Ebay for high end cards. When I had an opportunity to get a Prizm Silver Zion RC, I looked for a BGS 9.5 only because with the 4 sub grades, the total grade feels as if it was meticulously investigated. But a PSA 10 copy is selling higher than a BGS 9.5.
How do you feel about this? Is my opinion way off based here? Can someone compare the grading processes and techniques between PSA and BGS? I think it would be helpful to know that by the way.
Cheers,
Nate
Comments
It's not easy getting a 10 from either PSA or BGS. Of course the new thicker shinier cards added with that cutting technologies are bettter than they were 30 years ago adds to the higher percentage of 10s. Although, the card companies have yet to really master cutting cards centered. With today's technology, I do not understand this. lack of quality control.
I have graded several thousand cards with both, probably more with PSA. I have never received a BGS 10. At one point about 6 or 7 years ago, Beckett published the % of cards that graded a 10, 95, 9, etc. The last time they published it, I think 1 out of 100 cards graded a bgs 10. So I made it easier for a couple of graders since I didn't get one after 2500 submissions. I should have had around 25 10's, got none.
That's only true if they were giving out 10s randomly at the rate of 1:100. But that's not how it works. Not all submitters are going to have the same odds of getting a BGS 10 (for multiple reasons, but for the sake of this conversation we'll just stick with screening). Some people have a much better eye and get much higher grades on their submissions than other submitters. No submitter "should" get any particular grade.
Using past grades as a predictive model for future grades has its limits. If there's a large enough sample size then the pop report may be able to inform collectors that certain cards are condition-sensitive. But just taking 20 cards and sending them in for grading will not necessarily produce what past grades have. Those cards will be judged on their own merits so it doesn't matter how many 10s there have been. If your card isn't a 10, you can send in 1,000 of them and you still won't get a 10.
Arthur
Arthur,
I graded a POP 1 Pete Rose OPC card that is still a pop 1. Add to that 1987 Barry Bonds OPC PSA 10, A POP 1 auto PSA 10 rookie of Adrian Beltre. 4 1988 fleer Jordan PSA 10's. So my eye may not be the best, but probably not the worst.
Hi Nate and welcome!
I don't know if you are off base or not. PSA graded cards seem to me to be (in general) the far superior_ for selling_. There are a lot more PSA cards in what I collect than BVG. A quick check shows 79 results for "Killebrew BVG" and 1126 for "Killebrew PSA". Confusing too, are BVG and BCCG the same?
Are you trying to decide on one company to buy from over another for all your cards?
Some of the other grading companies have seemed to lost collector confidence, GAI comes to mind, and some are considered a joke, like PRO.
You stated you never sell, but want high end cards. In that case, I would look for cards graded by other companies to purchase, as long as you trust that particular company. SGC might be a good idea?
I also would focus more on a well centered PSA 9 over a PSA 10 in most cases as well.
It would only be a guess at the differences between any of the companies. My theory is that PSA made a conscious decision to be a little tougher to get a card into a particular grade, and in the end a PSA 8 is "better" than another companies NM-MT graded card. I always did like the subgrades on the BGS cards.
Is it harder to get a BGS in 9.5 or 10 than a PSA 10? I don't know. There are certinly some very high prices being asked for the BGS 10's!
Finally, if you're never going to sell, why worry about minute differences in grades? Just buy what you like for your collection.
I hope this helps!
Have fun collecting!!!!
Great thread and very timely for me. I collect only graded football cards although I do buy some that I plan on getting graded and I mostly concentrate on HOFers at the skilled positions. During this extended "stay home period" I have been looking at my cards and looking online trying to upgrade some and started researching PSA a bit. I went with Beckett only because when I first started collecting Beckett price guide was the bible and I was familiar with it so I started grading with them. If I were to value my collection today but instead of Beckett graded cards they were all PSA with the same grade I believe my collection would be worth considerably more; or at least could be sold for a lot more based on ebay.
That said, I have been having some fun starting my first PSA set of HOFers. I've been buying some graded cards I don't already have and buying a couple that are upgrades. My dilemma is whether I continue down this path or do I try sending Beckett cards in and having them graded by PSA. This could get VERY expensive at this point. I have bought a couple PSA cards that I already had and have successfully sold the Beckett cards. My guess is I'll do a combination of all of the above and just enjoy my collection.
To echo some of the above, I have sent many cards in to be graded by Beckett and although I have several 9.5s I have never had a card come back as a 10. However, most of my cards are older and I think the new cards are much easier to get 9.5 or 10.
Good luck
NFL HOF Set
https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/398345