What do you do with vintage SGC's?

markmac

I hope this does not come up twice but here goes. I am completing the 1969 Topps Basketball set in psa 7 condition(McGee Collection). I have about 7 SGC graded stars-mostly 88's, one 92 Elvin Hayes, and an 86 John Havlicek rookie. I just don't think I can risk breaking them to send to PSA. I think the Hayes is an easy 8 and the Havlicek will be very close. The centering is perfect on both. What do you guys do with SGC high dollar cards for your set? Sell them or break them open? I hate to downgrade from 88 to PSA 7's but I might have to in order to complete my set. Thanks

Mantlefan

I usually take a chance and carefully break them out and send to PSA. If I'm unhappy with the PSA grade, I put them back in the SGC holder and send them into SGC and have them re-holdered so I can sell them.

Vargha

Mark -- It's up to you, but the cards are already what they are. If they are trimmed, have a missed surface crease or get a lesser grade because SGC doesn't place as much value on centering, wouldn't you want to find out? If they are really 8's you will be pleased when they come back from PSA as well. If you are intent on building a set that is graded by only one company, then this is the best avenue anyway. It is something that I came to the conclusion to do and I'm sure many others here also. There are others here, too who are content to have both SGC and PSA cards in their sets.

sixdart

If your SGC card has nice centering, I would risk the crossover. What usually drops the grade from SGC to PSA is centering. SGC has no qualifiers with their grading- like PSA - they leave it more subjective to the individual. Also, with a SGC half grade card, always anticipate that a PSA crossover grade will go the lower-full number.

This formula has led to success in crossing my SGC cards to PSA with very little disappointment.

Good luck! The PSA registry set leaves no hiding place for graded material!

mikeschmidt

Mark:

Are you happy with the cards? If you're not selling -- then there is no need to break them out. However, if you want to be part of the Registry, or for some other reason, you can send the cards to PSA in their SGC holders. If you send them a note saying that you will not hold PSA liable for any damage to the cards in their breaking it out, they will grade your cards into PSA holders for you.

It is up to you to best determine the card's proper grade. If, upon your analysis, they seem to be graded correctly, then you can do the crossover. If they seem to be overgraded, for whatever reason, you can always sell the card as is, and invest the proceeds into a replacement high-grade PSA version of the card.

MS

1954

I have always looked for Vintage SGC cards just to get a higher grade or equivilant from PSA. SGC is a very strict grading company and usually crosses over to PSA standards. The only issue is that you need to look out for is the centering issues. Sometimes SGC grades higher with poor centering, but it will cross with no problem.

1954

markmac

Thanks for the input. I see that the $6 special is for 60s, 70s, and 80s. I think I will give it a shot.