Beckett B.G.S 9.5 Gem Mint compared to PSA 10

Both are considered “Gem Mint”. Would it be wise to invest in high profile Beckett B.G.S 9.5’s such as Shadowless Charizard, 1st Ed. Lugia Neo Gen, 1st ed. Typhlosion 17 neo gen? Everytime I look at a bgs 9.5 Im never disappointed even with the lowest subgrades they look flawless. Somtimes I see the smallest feint little print line that psa 10s get away with. At the same time I was curious to understand the value of a bgs 9.5 and what most people consider it compared to a psa 10. I do compare other bgs 9.5 with psa 10s and some are better than the 10s and vice versa (guess its just the human error of grading). Is a bgs 9.5 worth the investment?

A wise man on this forum once said “The best way to sell PSA 9 cards is inside a Beckett 9.5 case”.
I don’t know who it was or whether this still holds true, just forwarding the opinion. :grin:

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You need to keep in mind that the market just isn’t there for BGS like it is in PSA for Pokemon. Not saying that people don’t buy BGS-graded cards, because they certainly do, but my guess is that 99 percent of Pokemon collectors would prefer PSA except for some extremely specific circumstances.

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Plot twist, its an old cert. PSA 10 instead

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@burnedos, a very wise person indeed :upside_down_face:

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Most psa 10s would be at least a BGS 9.5, but the same can’t be said for most BGS 9.5’s

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People can’t even agree if psa 10s from 2 years ago are the same as now lol. At a certain grade point resolution there’s no discernible differences and it just comes to the psychology of what people feel about the number.

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I like the 9.5 for cards like a Typhlosion #17 without print lines but with 3-4 backside corner dots fresh out of the pack which would mark it as a PSA 9 but get a BGS 10 surface grade

uhh other than those extremely low chance situations for cards like slowking/yanma/typhlosion, I don’t know. I guess it’s cool for people that like to know that there aren’t holo scratches and don’t really care for the backside on other holos ~ the 9.5s with 10 on the surface and then like a 9 on the corners or edges
also cool for the people who like perfectly centered cards and don’t like the 65/35 PSA 9s

Do I think they’re investable? I guess I would say yes for the 10/10/9.5/9.5 9.5s maybe but other than that they’re probably consistent with PSA 9s and rarely some are on par with PSA 10s

Idk at some point you just have to ask yourself, wtf is the difference between most of these cards lol. Just buy what you like man

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I feel as though Beckett is stricter when it comes to grading some of these cards especially when its in the 9.5 grade. Seeing as though the majority of B.G.S 9.5s are comparable to psa 10s and bgs 10s as well. I trust PSA and B.G.S Gem Mint graded cards to be exactly that, GM condition. With that being said, I think that since its considered Gem Mint, on cards that are almost impossible to get Gem Mint condition on, it would still make them just as desirable such as the Lugia and Typhlosion. It always leans on perspective but in this case the cards mentioned arent just any cards thats why I was interested to see others opinions on the matter.

For instance when I see a 9.5 Shadowless Charizard I get pretty exited, I dont care what subgrades are if it’s a 9.5. Even if its the lowest possible subgrades, thats a Gem Mint 1999 Shadowless Charizard to me, graded by the top grading companies in the world, giving it that status. And the cards named above are some of the most desirable cards to get a GM status on. A grader determined that it was in fact higher than a 9 grade, giving it that GM grade. Thinking about all this hurts my brain.

It can be tricky. The majority of BGS 9.5s are PSA 9 quality. I may have tried to cross over a gross of them to PSA and my best guess is 8% were successful. If I have a choice between a PSA 9 or a BGS 9.5 that’s only 20% more or so, I’ll go for the Beckett’s.

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I’m not a BGS collector but having seen all the drama from last year about fake black label grades I’d personally rather stay away. I absolutely love the design on Beckett’s cases and I think the idea of sub-grades is something PSA should definitely adopt, but they seem to be a bit of a dodgy company.

The amount of BGS 9-9.5 grades on eBay which have “PSA 10?” in the titles is also getting a bit out of hand. If they were truly PSA 10 quality the seller would cross-grade them to begin with. It’s a shame you can’t block sellers.

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Definitely a great way to sell them and it can’t really ruffle any feathers. Ruffling some feathers and being a little wise about it…

The best way to sell PSA 9 cards is clearly inside a PSA 10 case.

We could get crazy and say BGS 10 or black label, but I don’t think too many PSA 9’s live in those.

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Back to the OP, I think BGS 9.5’s are excellent value on many cards there just aren’t a ton out there, but still more and more every day. The tier list is as follows: Black label > BGS 10 > PSA 10 > BGS 9.5 > PSA 9 > BGS 9.

The values related to the tier list are only well fleshed out and valid for higher tier cards generally, and even on occasion you can see BGS 9.5’s earning less than PSA 9’s especially with something like an auction which is exactly where great value lies IMO.

Obviously as mentioned often times BGS 9.5’s were once PSA 9’s, but at the end of the day it depends on what you value and what matters to you. I am fairly confident in saying that the average BGS 9.5 is a better condition card than the average PSA 9, and honestly the average PSA 9 isn’t quite what I collect. I tend towards stronger ones and the BGS 9.5 embodies that IMO. I also personally like the look and feel better on BGS cases as well as the subgrades. They allow you to look at the subgrades to discriminate the cards on the factors more important to you.

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Whenever you’re looking up something on ebay, just put that good old “-?” and “-L@@k

Takes your “pokemon BGS 9.5” listings from 628 to 510 lol

Yeah, my go-to search when looking for anything nowadays involves suffixing with “-proxy -flash -fake -replica -? -regrade -possibility -cross”. It’s getting a bit much.
:sob:

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Any Beckett 9.5s with a 9 subgrade (in anything bar possibly centering) probably won’t match the quality of a PSA 10.

I see the weaker Beckett 9.5s for mid-tier cards sitting on eBay for months and beyond because they are listed at seemingly a very high price for what they are - essentially a strong PSA 9 (but usually at least double or even triple the cost purely because of the ‘gem mint’ label).

Personally I stay away from weak 9.5s if I can pick up a nice looking PSA 9.

I get annoyed with the BGS 9.5 … PSA 10 ?? Titles.

I thought about adding to my PSA 10 Titles “BGS 10 Pristine Black Label :thinking:

Too bad there is not enough space.

9.5’s can be a solid investment if done carefully, pricing is so much different though. Way less market and 9.5 is an odd grade for a high end collector to pay up for. It is so hard to put together sets with BGS, mainly from availability.

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www.ebay.com/itm/184169617117

www.ebay.com/itm/264625412528

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Not even in the same galaxy. Your opinion is wrong if you think BGS 9.5 is comparable to PSA 10 (in pokemon specifically).

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