How do you guys feel about collecting PSA 10 vs CGC 10s or BGS 9.5s for vintage grails?
Realize PSA 10 is the gold standard, and taking BGS black label and CGC pristine 10s aside – the price difference between PSA and non-psa is so eye watering high, it feels like the better investments are the gem-mint CGC/BGS cards if we don’t need liquidity / investing for the long term?
Some examples:
Grails like Skyridge, Gold Star, 1st Edition Base Zards are trading at multiples higher for PSA 10 copies, even if its older cert.
Feels like CGC at least may close the gap in 10 years against PSA premium and therefore are better buys or am I thinking about this incorrectly as collectors only want the best of the best?
There’s quite a few of us who do a lot of cgc 10 because we feel the PSA premium has just gotten too high and the difference in quality is minimal. Like you mentioned though, the liquidity is bad. I think the gap will shorten over time but I don’t think cgc will ever fully catch up
The real value, in my opinion, is in PSA 9’s. If you knew how many CGC 10’s and BGS 9.5’s existed due to cross grading of PSA 9’s it would make your head spin. Take advantage of the HUGE discount for cards with basically the same condition. The only caveat is having to be diligent about checking the condition of the 9 you buy. The advantage of the 9 is also the disadvantage. Takes more work but potentially lots of upside for your collection.
The golden rule is and will always be: " Buy the card. Not the grade. "
I would recommend buying what you like. If things don’t go your way and appreciate over time, there’s nothing worse than holding a bag of cards/slabs that you don’t like.
I’ve sold PSA, CGC, and BGS slabs, including cards that you are referring to such as e-Reader crystals, gold stars, 1st Ed Base holos, etc. PSA graded cards are the easiest to sell. There is some inherent value in having easier-to-sell slabs in my opinion, even if the appreciation is lesser (e.g., PSA 9).
You could make a fair amount speculating on CGC Pristine vintage chase cards, but waiting around for the right buyer may take some time. Ask yourself if the potential greater payoff is worth having money tied up for longer.
When CGC had the blue label I saw those as the best 10s. When I got back into buying more recently I nearly left a bunch of bids on CGC 10s at prices I would pay for PSA 10s but soon realized the CGC 10s were turning up far more often than the PSA 10s. Just from seeing what is available on the market the CGC 10 seems lesser than PSA. It makes sense. When CGC had the blue label they probably lost some business due to difficulty with achieving the 10, so part of their remodel was lowering the standards for 10s. Their lower standards coupled with ease of grading (inc partnership with fanatics) has led to an abundance of CGC 10s.
Personally I would only buy a CGC graded card for the authentication rather than the condition , though ofc the higher the condition grade the better still. I have bought some CGC graded MTG Alpha rares around the 6 mark for example. The condition doesn’t bother me much, but I appreciate the authentication/encapsulation in comparison to a loose card.
PSA 10: Maximum value/investor grade, with very few exceptions. Highest liquidity/potential buyers due to PSA dominating the Pokemon collector market overall.
CGC 10: Unless it’s a CGC 10 Pristine, the market generally values these higher than BGS 9.5, but never as high as PSA 10 from what I’ve seen. Still a nice card, and a good value option for most.
BGS 9.5: Unless you’re a BGS collector for whatever reason at this point, most people seem to just prefer PSA or they’ll pay a bit more and go for a CGC 10 to see a “10” on the label for the psychological satisfaction, or because they prefer the CGC slab/clarity. The only premium BGS slab will generally be a Pristine or Black Label, which are very rare in the vintage market (i.e. 1st Ed Charizard’s, etc).
So in the end of the day, you can collect any company or slab you want. There will always be buyers or sellers for all them, but PSA with few exceptions is probably your safest bet if you’re trying to maximize value & liquidity. If you have no intentions of ever selling and you want to go more the value route, then CGC or BGS or a lower grade PSA card will easily accomplish that for you.
It’s funny to me how the meta-narrative of the hobby has shifted from “what card should I buy” to “what label should I buy”. I guess it makes sense in a time where the label premium is higher than ever and there are many different options.
The answer is to buy good cards in good condition. Speculating on which company is better is a waste of time. For example, in 2 years we don’t know if BGS will be non-existent or completely turned around and successful because of new leadership. Why make your choice a gamble on that?
Good cards grow roughly proportional in every label. For example:
Historically, there has not ever been a major label that has been an obviously bad choice relative to the others. The difference has been marginal. The option to crack and regrade is always there too. The benefit of PSA is that’s where the inertia is so everything is a bit easier (ie more liquid). Whereas the benefit of other companies is that you’re still getting comparably good cards at lower prices. But again, these are marginal benefits when it comes to trying to invest.
yeah the difficult (or maybe not so difficult choice from pure investment perspective) has been the large spread on the price today – the most extreme being the 1st ed base zard (200k PSA 10 vs 45-55k for BGS 9.5/CGC 10) recent sales. However even other grails like Crystal and Gold Stars are seeing 60-80% mark ups on CGC vs PSA 10.
Agree with everyone’s sentiment here buy the card, not the grade – but something to think about re: investing.
I used to collect PSA 10s and switched over to CGC 9.5s (this was before CGC’s switch to the new grading scale). Not because I was super unhappy with PSA or anything; I just found CGC offered a much more attractive price : condition ratio. In many instances, I was literally able to sell a PSA 10 copy of a card, for example, for like $1k and then buy back a CGC 9.5 for like $200, and the 9.5 would be in at least as nice condition.
As time has gone on, though, I’ve literally just begun to care only about the condition of the card and very little about the slab. Grading companies go in and out of favor (PSA used to be the grader of choice for MTG, then BGS became the grader of choice, and now BGS has lost a lot of market share to PSA/CGC). The point of grading is to help ensure that the cards you’re buying/collecting are actually in the condition you want them to be. Cards can always be regraded if preferences change. But if you’re just collecting weak PSA 10s or CGC 10s or whatever, you might be out of luck if/when the market’s grading company preferences change and you’re unable to cross.
For now, I’m generally very happy collecting CGC 10s (either pristine or basic). As others have said, CGC 10 basics are what were formerly known as 9.5s. That’s CGC’s gem mint grade, and is equivalent (in the context of CGC’s grading scale) to a PSA 10. The change from 9.5 to 10 was just marketing–just as PSA’s 10 grade is just marketing (10 doesn’t mean perfect–for either CGC or PSA). Neither CGC nor PSA is perfectly consistent at grading, but both are reasonably okay at it. The price : condition ratio is still much more attractive for CGC, which is the most important consideration for me. You’ll have to decide what’s most important for you. PSA undeniably has superior market acceptance to CGC, which is something many people care about.
Basically, PSA and CGC are both reasonable options. I don’t trust BGS’s grades more than raw cards from random eBay sellers.
