Beckett or GAI?

jswieton

What company has a better ruptuation in the grading community Beckett or GAI. I know PSA is the best. But who comes in number 2 and why? What make one grading company better then the other, besides price. Price should not have any barring on the quality of their grading skills.

Estil

It's all about experience and reputation. Here's the list:

1. PSA
2. SGC (though many believe it's #1 for pre-WWII stuff for some reason)
3. Beckett (several years ago it was even stricter than PSA; not so much anymore)

Since GAI is out of business, I wouldn't get anything from them. Pretty much stay away from all the other grading services.

brianwintersfan

<< <i>Since GAI is out of business, I wouldn't get anything from them. Pretty much stay away from all the other grading services. >>



I'm no fan of GAI but you might want to get your facts straight. Looks to me like they are still in business.

Show Schedule
July 30-August 3, 2008
29th National Sports Collectors Convention
Donald E Stephens Convention Center Rosemont, IL

August 14-17, 2008
The East Coast National
Westchester County Center NY.

September 26-28, 2008
100th Philadelphia Sports Card and Memorabilia Show

jimq112

GAI had it's problems in the last year or so but is still alive and kicking.

SGC is the best for prewar cards and is growing in the registry world.
PSA is currently the best for registry guys and is a strong contender for best overall.
Beckett is currently the best for newer cards.

No company can be the best at everything but generally you can't go wrong with those 3.
Generally you can't go right with the others like PRO, grademycards, gem elite and basement graders like that.

PoppaJ

We've been buying GAI graded Mantles from different venues for over a year now and haven't had any problems whatsoever when cracking and submitting them to PSA.

9 out of 10 on average have come back from PSA graded as high or higher.

We only buy in person and use a 10x loupe and a measuring device.

With all the bad publicity going on about GAI lately, many sellers are unloading instead of cracking and submitting to PSA.

These 2 Mantles were GAI 7s.

hofautos

I know, this being a PSA board may be Pro-PSA, con-Beckett, but typically, more often than not,
PSA graded cards will sell for more for vintage, but Beckett has the market share for modern and
sells for more than PSA for modern, sometimes even as much as twice more.

For prewar - SGC
For vintage - PSA
For modern - BGS

As far as one being better than the other, they all are subject to human error and opinion, and I would say any of the three are respectable.
GAI is crap. First hand experience on several instances.

mickeymantle24

<< <i>I know, this being a PSA board may be Pro-PSA, con-Beckett, but typically, more often than not,
PSA graded cards will sell for more for vintage, but Beckett has the market share for modern and
sells for more than PSA for modern, sometimes even as much as twice more.

For prewar - SGC
For vintage - PSA
For modern - BGS

As far as one being better than the other, they all are subject to human error and opinion, and I would say any of the three are respectable.
GAI is crap. First hand experience on several instances. >>



hof, I agree with you that they all bring good money but different services bring better money for different typs of cards ( prewar,vintage,and modern)

It all depends on what tme frame the cards are in

Rogermnj

I think you have to define modern as 2001-present.

Lots of the registry player collectors would pay $50 for a low pop psa 10 from the 90s that need for their set.
If that same card came in BGS 9.5 it would sell for 0.

Estil

<< <i>

<< <i>Since GAI is out of business, I wouldn't get anything from them. Pretty much stay away from all the other grading services. >>



I'm no fan of GAI but you might want to get your facts straight. Looks to me like they are still in business.

Show Schedule
July 30-August 3, 2008
29th National Sports Collectors Convention
Donald E Stephens Convention Center Rosemont, IL

August 14-17, 2008
The East Coast National
Westchester County Center NY.

September 26-28, 2008
100th Philadelphia Sports Card and Memorabilia Show >>



I guess I stand corrected. I could've sworn I heard on this forum GAI filed for bankruptcy or something. Oh well, GAI did pioneer the unopened pack grading, so I guess they deserve credit for that.

Estil

<< <i>I know, this being a PSA board may be Pro-PSA, con-Beckett, but typically, more often than not,
PSA graded cards will sell for more for vintage, but Beckett has the market share for modern and
sells for more than PSA for modern, sometimes even as much as twice more.

For prewar - SGC
For vintage - PSA
For modern - BGS
>>



Where exactly do you draw the line between vintage and modern? 1974? 1981? 1991? 1998?

hofautos

<< <i>

<< <i>I know, this being a PSA board may be Pro-PSA, con-Beckett, but typically, more often than not,
PSA graded cards will sell for more for vintage, but Beckett has the market share for modern and
sells for more than PSA for modern, sometimes even as much as twice more.

For prewar - SGC
For vintage - PSA
For modern - BGS
>>



Where exactly do you draw the line between vintage and modern? 1974? 1981? 1991? 1998? >>



Of course there are exceptions, e.g. hot psa registry cards, but for grading purposes, i would say that MOST cards after 1995
would get more in a BGS slab.

There really are not even that many "truly collectable cards" between 1980 to 1995 anyway....how many did i miss?

only truly collectable in high grades
1982 Ripken
1983 Tony Gwynn, Sandberg, Boggs
1984 Mattingly
1984-1985 Clemens, Puckett
1985 McGwire
1986-1987 Bonds,Maddux
1988 - Score Glossy Grace,Biggio,Glavine
1989 Griffey
1993 Finest Refractors
1993 Jeter
1994 AROD
1995 vlad
All Tiffany Rookies of Super Stars

lawnmowerman

<< <i>What company has a better ruptuation >>



Scooby-Doo says Beckett's rup is way better than GAI's

fkw

neither....... not even PSA.

SGC is the best.

To me...
Vintage is pre 1948
Modern is post 1948

metalmike

fkw- Leon called, he misses you. LOL anyway... old label gai's are ok to take a chance on to crossover but I would stay away fm new label ones. Same with SCD stay away from silver ones but the red logo ones are ok. Mike