normally you cant go more than .5 higher than the lowest subscore, but because of Becketts weighted grade scale having the 7 in surface allowed me to still get an 8 overall
well, when i took it to market it didnt do as well as I hoped. I ended up getting 9,750 in auction which is less than some other similar sales at the time
The 7 sub score hurts a lot. Some ppl will see that and think, okay a 7 surface score would land this as a psa 7 if it was graded by psa, so they might in turn value it less.
In OP’s case most would view his card a a very STRONG 9.5 having two perfect 10 subscores. and because of that will be willing to give more money. and if nothing else, be willing to try to cross over to psa for profit
and sorry to be off topic here but I think it’s important to explain the Beckett story to help phrase Op’s predicament
with all that said you are right, the final score is what it is and there are plenty just like you who would never dish out extra for the same final score
Oh yeah, I agree. This discussion is another reason I just stick to PSA. Give me a nice, round number grade. Subgrades, 10+, 10++, pristine, black label, etc etc… all that stuff is just way more in the weeds than I think grading was ever intended to be. Too much focus on the label and not on the card.
But, back to the OP, congrats on a beautiful card! I say just enjoy it for what it is.
It is a bit mind-boggling, but many BGS collectors take the subgrades as gospel. MTG is all about the BGS 9.5+ or 9.5++ listings. A 9.5/9.5/9.5/9 is seen as a “weak” BGS 9.5 in MTG, and it will always sell for less, regardless of the actual condition of the card.
This level of nuance arose naturally for vintage MTG because BGS 10s almost never exist. I’m sad to see that it’s gained popularity in Pokemon as well.
This was already explained very well by MidEraCollector but here is another way to imagine it.
If you had a 9.5 with these subgrades: 9.5 9.5 9.5 9
Would you be willing to trade it for a 9.5 with these: 10 9.5 10 9.5?
I prefer BGS cards with subgradrd as its more “buying the card” than “buying the grade” and those subgrades help differentiate the cards more based on condition. You can compare an older cert PSA 10 Charizard to a more current cert psa 10 and the difference is usually instantly noticeable. Id assume if you cracked and regraded all 124 PSA 10s that only around 80 would come back as 10s today
So this is not exactly a perfect comparison. Would I be willing to trade my 9.5 9.5 9.5 9 for a 10 9.5 10 9.5 1:1? Sure, obviously yes. But the explanation of MidEraCollector asks the question would I be willing to trade my 9.5 9.5 9.5 9 and something else that adds up to the incremental higher value of a 10 9.5 10 9.5 for a 10 9.5 10 9.5, no, definitely not.
All that suggests I’m just not the target audience for this discussion, which is a-ok
I’m curious to hear where you ended up landing. I’m in a similar boat with some grails (BGS 9.5) that I may considering swapping over to CGC or PSA but definitely do not want to crack.
Espeon Play Promo 50k BGS 9.5 Quad+ (Surface 10, 9.5 everything else) - #1 copy based on pure subs for BGS as there is no pristine
Umbreon Play Promo 70k BGS 9.5. Standard (Surface 10, Centering 9, 9.5 corners/edges) - another #1 copy based purely on subs as there is no pristine
Charizard 1st Ed Base Quad Minus (Edges 9, everything else 9.5)
For the Zard I definitely want to try to cross to CGC 10, but for my other 2 grails would only really consider it if I can get PSA 10 or CGC 10 Pristine but unfortunately CGC will only let you put gem mint 10 minimum.
Very hard justifying cracking these things, given the risk involved.
My plan is to first try Beckett Graded Card Review at Nationals / West Coast Card Show and if I don’t get any bumps there then try for CGC crossover review.
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literally wtf???
Am I understanding this correctly?
considering the pop report hasnt changed, no bueno
There was no merit to it anyways. The card isnt 50/50/50/50 to ask for a 10 centering. His basis to ask for the bump was based on other cards getting a 10 with similar centering but that wont hold weight for their decision. His best bet was to try to cross to a psa10 but even if they were willing to do so, OP seemed disinterested
not to mention the card in question would complicate things. If Gary himself visited their headquarters with the biggest youtuber at the time and still couldnt get the .5 bump, with all that publicity that follows.
Its just too big of a card. a BGS 10 pristine I estimate would be worth $700k-800k maybe more. Its not a small ask for him to get the card bumped. It would be getting more than a half million dollar value increase for the same card, and it would send Gary and Logan into a frenzy and cause some bad publicity
a 9.5++ is amazing as is. He should be super happy with what he has
if the card was a 9.5 surface instead of 9.5 corner he could probably cross to a psa10 but as it is now it doesnt really have a chance
general rule of thumb for big cards:
9.5 centering : psa10 quality
9.5 surface: usually psa10 quality, depending on the surface flaw in question
9.5 corners/9.5 edges: sometimes good enough but typically not. For a charizard 1st edition in 2025 any whitening or corner nicks will auto disqualify a 10
