The Giant Professional Grading Thread

[zorloth]

@shadowless

No idea where the CGC thread went but I finally have a few slabs in hand and wanted to say that I really like the case. I also like the label, hated it when I saw it on images but actually having it in hand they appear very different to me. Overall great quality, I dislike the fact that the label itself is loose, it moves around quite a bit.

Agreed! The case and label both look much better in person.

None of my CGC slabs have a loose label, though. You might have just gotten unlucky with that?

[candle]

@shadowless

No idea where the CGC thread went but I finally have a few slabs in hand and wanted to say that I really like the case. I also like the label, hated it when I saw it on images but actually having it in hand they appear very different to me. Overall great quality, I dislike the fact that the label itself is loose, it moves around quite a bit.

I bought a few CGC slabs this year with the intent of crossgrading and was similarly impressed. I will likely still cross grade some of them, but I intend to have a contained collection of CGC slabs at the end of the day.
Seems like there is plenty of room for critique with that company just like PSA and BGS but I’m glad they’re in the TCG space ultimately.

[zorloth]

@candle

@shadowless

No idea where the CGC thread went but I finally have a few slabs in hand and wanted to say that I really like the case. I also like the label, hated it when I saw it on images but actually having it in hand they appear very different to me. Overall great quality, I dislike the fact that the label itself is loose, it moves around quite a bit.

I bought a few CGC slabs this year with the intent of crossgrading and was similarly impressed. I will likely still cross grade some of them, but I intend to have a contained collection of CGC slabs at the end of the day.
Seems like there is plenty of room for critique with that company just like PSA and BGS but I’m glad they’re in the TCG space ultimately.

I ended up just deciding to cross-collect. I realized that CGC 9.5s were of identical quality to PSA 10s. And ultimately what matters is the card not the label. I think once the broader collecting base comes to realize the quality of CGC 9.5s, the value gap between CGC 9.5s and PSA 10s will close significantly (it will still exist, though).

[candle]

@zorloth, I agree the quality of the cards on the 9.5’s I have picked up have been on par with PSA in my opinion. I think I will likely stick to CGC cards with crossgrades when buying from them though, as non-quads are often what I would consider PSA 9 quality. That said, if you can inspect closely you can snag some very nice cards for a bargain

[zorloth]

@candle

@zorloth , I agree the quality of the cards on the 9.5’s I have picked up have been on par with PSA in my opinion. I think I will likely stick to CGC cards with crossgrades when buying from them though, as non-quads are often what I would consider PSA 9 quality. That said, if you can inspect closely you can snag some very nice cards for a bargain

Yeah, I think for cross-grading purposes, a CGC 9.5 quad is definitely a better bet. Still, I’d say that CGC 9.5 basics are still on par with PSA 10 quality. I even have some PSA 10s that I’d be willing to bet would get CGC 9s.

[shadowless]

@zorloth

@candle

I bought a few CGC slabs this year with the intent of crossgrading and was similarly impressed. I will likely still cross grade some of them, but I intend to have a contained collection of CGC slabs at the end of the day.
Seems like there is plenty of room for critique with that company just like PSA and BGS but I’m glad they’re in the TCG space ultimately.

I ended up just deciding to cross-collect. I realized that CGC 9.5s were of identical quality to PSA 10s. And ultimately what matters is the card not the label. I think once the broader collecting base comes to realize the quality of CGC 9.5s, the value gap between CGC 9.5s and PSA 10s will close significantly (it will still exist, though).

My core collection is obviously PSA but I decided that I´ll collect the next set I´m working on (old back japanese) completely in CGC. I really like uniformity within sets, and with these great cases and also with them actually acknowledging well known errors and other things that PSA neglected for ages without reason, I´m gladly supporting them a bit. The gap will eventually close, it´s basically like quad 9.5 bgs cards are more or less equal to psa 10s most of the time, same will happen with cgc for sure.

[starhatpokemon]

QGS
65 cards
arrived 7/7/20
entered 9/1/20
grading 3/18/21

404 cards
arrived 7/7/20
entered 9/1/20
grading ??

[zorloth]

@knotchi

What do you y’all think about selling weak PSA 10’s, like that Aggro through PWCC?

PWCC is clueless when it comes to labeling cards accurately. Their titles are literally just what’s on the slab’s label lol. Like, here’s a Beta Cyclopean Tomb that was incorrectly labeled by PSA but that PWCC is selling as Alpha (with ZERO disclaimer that it was mislabeled). Suffice to say that there’s a 0% chance they would disclose the binder ding if they auctioned off the Aggron. And to make things worse, it wouldn’t be visible through the scans. So the buyer would just get fucked for zero fault of their own. At least with the Cyclopean Tomb, it’s obvious that it’s mislabeled.

[nospin]

Does anybody know if any of the grading services will encapsulate a Magic Artist Proof? I mean look at this thing. How can I not protect this forever.

[zorloth]

@nospin, that’s very cool! I’ve never seen a Secret Lair artist proof before. To answer your question: I’ve seen multiple CGC-graded artist proofs, so I’m sure they will. Not sure about PSA or BGS off the top of my head.

[null_user]

I’ve graded a Korean Charizard from CP6 with European Grading (European Grading | EG) and the result has surprised me a lot.

I thought the cases looked awful in photographs but I like them even better than PSA’s in person. And there’s a really cool feature: you can “scan” the label with your phone (if NFC is activated) and it opens the website on the page of your card so that you don’t have to enter the cert number manually. Also, it makes it much more difficult, if not impossible, to fake slabs from this company.

I graded the card because I wasn’t sure if it was legit and I wanted it authenticated. I don’t think I’ll grade too many more card cause I’m using binders at the moment. But I just wanted to share the positive experience in case that any of you might want to give them a try, especially European collectors.

Disclaimer: I don’t work there or have any connection with the company whatsoever, I just liked their service and am quite impressed

[nospin]

@zorloth

@nospin, that’s very cool! I’ve never seen a Secret Lair artist proof before. To answer your question: I’ve seen multiple CGC-graded artist proofs, so I’m sure they will. Not sure about PSA or BGS off the top of my head.

Thanks zorloth, my understanding is that PSA does not. My worry with CGC is I know they are a stickler with signed things, won’t authenticate unless they personally witness something at an event. No harm in reaching out, but is frustrating as I ordered this directly from the artist, but am sure they will probably not authenticate it.

[traineramy]

@nospin

@zorloth

@nospin, that’s very cool! I’ve never seen a Secret Lair artist proof before. To answer your question: I’ve seen multiple CGC-graded artist proofs, so I’m sure they will. Not sure about PSA or BGS off the top of my head.

Thanks zorloth, my understanding is that PSA does not. My worry with CGC is I know they are a stickler with signed things, won’t authenticate unless they personally witness something at an event. No harm in reaching out, but is frustrating as I ordered this directly from the artist, but am sure they will probably not authenticate it.

It will get a qualified green label. They will slab it but they will not authenticate the signature.

[zorloth]

@nospin

@zorloth

@nospin , that’s very cool! I’ve never seen a Secret Lair artist proof before. To answer your question: I’ve seen multiple CGC-graded artist proofs, so I’m sure they will. Not sure about PSA or BGS off the top of my head.

Thanks zorloth, my understanding is that PSA does not. My worry with CGC is I know they are a stickler with signed things, won’t authenticate unless they personally witness something at an event. No harm in reaching out, but is frustrating as I ordered this directly from the artist, but am sure they will probably not authenticate it.

Having the signature authenticated isn’t important for the secondary market value of MTG cards, though (unless it’s a rare sig, which Lucas Graciano isn’t). The signature/sketch on your artist proof are clearly authentic, and if you ever resold the card the market would think so, too.

[cursebot]

I recently won this card on auction, and I checked the certification on PSA’s website and it showed a completely different card, am I getting scammed or was this an technical error from PSA?

[qwachansey]

@cursebot it’s showing up fine on my end.

[ultevolution]

@cursebot, @qwachansey, Shows up fine for me too

[kemost]

Hi

Is there any point to grade this cards? PSA7 is 2,5k$, but looks like raw almost sell at the same price, and I don’t think it will get 7 or higher

[cursebot]

@qwachansey @ultevolution thanks guys, apparently im an idiot and put the wrong certification label.

[andrewr23]

update on my 2 express orders

arrived : feb 15
Order Prep: march 18
Research: march 18
Grading : march 19