Sent a card to BGS for the first time, and I’m wondering if you guys have ever gotten a black label, and if so, what did it look like and what things should people look out for BEFORE sending to bgs?
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It looks perfect
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It’s a lottery, effectively. You won’t know until you either open the email or the box, if they even tell you that on the email anymore (I could be wrong, has been a while). There are submission agencies with “experience” in ”picking out” black labels, I wouldn’t bother.
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If mine got one, it would be a game changer for my quest for the Gold Star, but I’ve heard it’s like less than 1%
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I’ll bite - Do you have photos of the card? If not, what language?
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I sent 20 burgerchu’s to beckett. One of the highest black label rate cards ever. They all measured 50/50 centering on tools, I could find no whitening. Absolutely perfect in every way that I could conceivably see. I was so sure I’d get like 50% black labels.
Got 18 Beckett 10s and 2 9.5s 
I’m not 100% sure even Beckett really know what makes a card a black label
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Soooooo Im cooked.
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probably yeah. The fun part is that beckett 10s are harder to get than psa 10s but they sell so much slower because no one wants them
edit: to cheer you up a bit - i just sold this black label
it looks exactly the same as any other psa 10. top bottom front centering maybe even a lil off. So essentially its a complete gamble and impossible to predict
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It’s a complete dice roll, the majority of modern Japanese cards look flawless to me anyway
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If you want, search “Beckett choosing black labels employee“ or “Beckett black label employee scandal” and read the Blowout Cards Forum threads surrounding the matter. Don’t discourage yourself too much but just a point that these extra gimmicks on top of already-subjective grading standards make it super difficult to predict things like black labels.
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Wait so top and bottom has to be perfect too?
Yeah I aint getting a black label…
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Yeah, not to be a Debbie downer but if centering is not visually perfect, odds are probably near 0.
That’s not to say that there aren’t black labels with clearly not perfect centering though. Take a look at this Lugia V: https://www.ebay.com/itm/197925573573
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no coz bgs takes 90 days to open ur package, and then another 90 days to grade it 
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The biggest piece of evidence that that black label is the most overrated thing in this hobby is that it’s impossible to predict a black label from the raw card.
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I’ve only graded with BGS once (send around Fall 2018 and got back early 2019), and did try for a Black Label as well. I had roughly 35 sealed WotC promos of each of the three legendary birds with error illustrator. I’ve looked at the Moltres with the best centering and least amount of whitening while they were still in their seals, and opened about 25 out of 35. Then I selected the best of those again. Unfortunately, most I pre-graded as PSA 9s or low 10s, so not too many great candidates for a BGS black label.
I ended up sending in the best three, plus an additional corrected illustrator one I had (and two Chinese EX Legend Maker cards I pulled myself).
Unfortunately, no luck on the Black Label, although I did get very close with one of them, with three 10s and one 9.5 as subgrades. To quote my return collection post:
So yeah, no black labels graded myself, although 0.5 off isn’t too bad all things considering. 
A few months later, I came across a Black Label of this Moltres on someone’s IG whom was also active on E4, and was able to buy it (for ~300 bucks). Here again a quote from my collection post:
Seems like it’s still pop-1 these days (with 120 graded in total thus far).
Since it’s my favorite artwork of the entire TCG, I’m still very happy to have it in my collection despite the Black Label controversy. The red card with black label also just looks great imo. 
Having said that, I’ve paid 300 USD back then. I feel like Black Labels, especially for WotC era cards, are a few thousands of USD these days, which wouldn’t be worth it at all. Especially since the card itself is basically on par with the BGS-10 (with one 9.5 subgrade) I graded myself.
Greetz,
Quuador
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Fbpb
You might as well just try hitting a jackpot at the casino. It’s basically the same thing.
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Kinda looked like a PSA 9.
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So if this is your favorite artwork, can you tell me if the fire is coming out of the mouth or is it background? I would think less of mouth would show on card if it was breathing fire.
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