I’m on the verge of cracking my CGC 9 crystal zard and sending to BGS in hopes for a 9.5. Anybody want to talk me out of it? 
It’s got solid subgrades, .5 away from the CGC 9.5. The lack of upcharges with BGS is also attractive
If anything, it could be a very anxiety filled science experiment
EDIT: the beast has been cracked. Stay tuned for results in a few weeks
Just send it to PSA over and over until you get a 10
Is the surface issues on the holo, or elsewhere?
Only thing I could tell through the slab was a small, light vertical line that is only noticeable certain angles. That’s the only issue I can see
At the end of the day, this is a major decision that you alone should make.
Here are my thoughts…
Some things worth considering… 
All good things to think about.
At the end of the day, I just want it out of its current CGC slab. It’s a bit scratched up and takes away from the cards beauty imo.
So my options are BGS and PSA. I don’t feel like paying $600 to get it in new plastic and I don’t think it’s a 10 so I’ve nixed the PSA idea.
With BGS, there’s the upside of a 9.5 and if it gets the 9 that’s fine with me and I would be happy with that. If it gets an 8.5 I’d resubmit.
Sounds like you’ve thought through the decision! 
Hard to say. It might become a 9.5 basic or it might stay pretty consistent. With that print line in the holo, that’s pretty standard for a PSA 8 or 9 or a BGS 9 surface grade in my experience. You might move up on the score for the edges if that is the only noticeable chip you can find, as that would usually classify as a 9.5 edge from what I’ve seen. Maybe it has more wear somewhere else?
So I would hope on a BGS 9.5 but wouldn’t be surprised by a BGS 9 silver label. Either way it won’t really change the value of the card and I think the BGS label would also look nicer with the orange Charizard (just my opinion of course).
Great points. I appreciate your input!
I have a friend (who’s on this forum so I’ll leave it to him to give further info if he wants to) who recently got back BGS 9.5s on cracked-out CGC 9s. And BGS had previously rejected those exact same cards while in the slab as failing to meet the minimum grade requirement for BGS 9.
So you’re certainly correct to want to crack the card out before attempting. What it comes down to is the strength of the CGC 9. I’ve seen CGC 9s that are on the weaker side (closer to PSA 8 quality) and ones that are extremely strong (closer to PSA 10 quality). If you post the certification number people will be able to check out CGC’s scans of the slab and give you a more informed opinion. It has strong subs and is an old cert, which are facts that bode well for you.
Zard has been freed. I will update this thread when it comes back from BGS. Expecting a 9 but hoping for the 9.5 
Sounds like that guy is an idiot to send the same card twice…
But yeah in all seriousness I send a lot of CGC to BGS these days for my PC all in the cgc 8.5 range since my goal is to hit the BGS 9. When I get fairly desperate to complete a goal (like when BGS teases a change in label), I sometimes send cgc 9s to bgs in the slab and state I want to cross 1 to 1. I have never had an issue with this until recently (the past 3 months or so) when a few (4) have been sent back to me as rejected due to them not being able to do the 1:1 cross.
I cracked 3 of them and I got a 9 and 2 9.5s after being rejected for 9 like I wanted/still frikin want. Grading is insanely subjective at the half grade level. I also cracked 4 cgc 8s and got bgs 7.5s within the last few months. I should note that I do send mostly eseries holos which have better overall print quality than most sets and often I opt for no subgrades. There are a few conspiracy theories about no subs vs subs being more lenient but I have gotten what I consider to be “lucky/above my pregrades” and “unlucky” many many times using both methods (I do use subs for everything I send that is not eseries).
I feel like my response here is a big pile of nothing helpful for the OP though so here is my opinion based on submitting a few hundred eseries holos over the past 2 years (please dont take it as a guarentee)
BGS weighs centering over surface, so one print line is not bad
BGS weighs edges and corners over surface as well so your subs are in the right spots (if there is more than that one white dot I would reconsider)
thats an old cert cgc label which I have literally never had downgraded
HOWEVER…
That is a charizard. The charizard tax is real from my experiance and most charizards get looked at harder. But if you are ok with a bgs 9 at worst since the slab will be not scratched then I’d say your risk for an 8.5 is very very low almost 0%
Super helpful man thank you, especially with your experience with subbing so many CGC e series.
I do think if it somehow gets the 8.5 that it would be a severe misgrade, as this is probably my cleanest 9 in my collection. But we shall see
I didnt wanna say anything before you cracked to sway your decision, but now that its all out I would wager that you have a much better shot at 9.5 than 9 there
This is a good point. I have definitely seen many cards that are in that undergraded/inbetween grade so many times. I sort of view everything as “hope for the best” so I’m not disappointed, but no doubt that if the card is strong enough to upgrade that it can really just come down to the card and not necessarily any other factor like the sub-grades. I have several PSA 9s that I’m confident would be 9.5s, but then I definitely have a couple that’d be more like a regular 9 (and probably should be PSA 8, lol).
Isn’t this the one you snagged on eBay when it was priced as a reverse holo?
Yessir good memory
Did you end up getting the card back? What was the grade?
Still waiting for the results, should be a few weeks hopefully. I will update the thread for sure when I know
