Gee it’s almost like people bid on the card they want in the condition they want and don’t necessarily obsess over what a card could grade at a different grading company.
Pokémon collectors have often held the mindset that buyers A) don’t care about subgrades and B) PSA should always demand a premium.
If you expand your collector/buyer base, as has accelerated in 2020, these long-held beliefs start to fade.
If you are a buyer who prefers PSA and thinks the specific BGS 9 would not cross grade to a PSA 8 then just buy the PSA 8 instead?
Personally I have a PSA 8 and would prefer either of the BGS 9s on the block.
for BGS, it’s tricky. in the hobby, we still don’t have a definitive answer for what translates from PSA over to BGS. for now, any subgrade of 9.5 from BGS is very solid. Any subgrades of BGS 8.5 becomes questionable as to what PSA would deem it. overall, you should at overall grade AND subgrades very carefully before making a decision. I can understand BGS 9 1st edition charizards getting 24k since PSA 9 is probably 30k+ at the moment. but i would say the auctioned charizards are on the weak side because they both have 8.5 as one of their subgrades, although in different categories.
so i see the two psa 10 1st edition shining charizards are currently at 15k and 11k. one is a 4xx cert and the other 2xx cert. is this giving legitimacy to the argument that 4xx certs get a premium?
I suppose a better reformation of my statement is: Why does it matter? Why are we still in a mindset where there has to be a uniform constant PSA - BGS - CGC - Whatever 3 letter initialism grading company standard when they are all different companies with different metrics?
We will never have a definitive answer of what can or cannot guaranteed cross, because graders are humans and make mistakes.
There are weak BGS 9s and strong BGS 9s. There are weak PSA 9s and strong PSA 9s. I personally prefer the BGS/CGC subgrade system to identify a card’s weakness.
If I’m buying a BGS 9 Charizard for my collection in a condition I’m satisfied with, why should I care if it would be a PSA 8 or 8.5 or 9? I just bought a pathetically misgraded PSA 9 1st ed holo gyarados that should’ve been a 7 imo and likely would’ve been a BGS 8/8.5. “Buy the card not the grade” should extend to “Buy the card not the grading company”.
The one easiest “cross-grade” would be cards with 10 subgrades except for 9 or 9.5 centering, because PSA has less strict centering parameters than other companies, so they are a good bet for PSA 10. But… PSA eyeballs their centering. So it’s still no guarantee.
To me the fact that there is a 30% price difference between two PSA 10s on the same block highlights the importance of subgrades. But plenty have another preference and PSA works for them. Many prefer the clean look of a 10 without subgrades. It’s up to you! If the slightly cracked case for this shining Charizard was the only thing holding it back four thousand dollars, that’s the easiest $4k ever to make if you want to send it back to PSA for re-casing, great business opportunity.
That plus I can see one deep scratch (above the middle on the front card.) Visible scratches or hairs on the back (especially bottom left border.) Label looks bit worn. On the other hand, the 4xxx cert one barely shows any scratch or hair. Looks cleaner too.
the bidder with feedback 243 won a ton of the high end lots, could just be a really rich guy. from the few lots i was looking at, i don’t think anyone managed to outbid him apart from shillers
if so, then i think the seller of the bgs zard, if he got shilled, must be badly triggered that the shiller didnt stop at 60k usd lol
Someone on FB just yesterday listed double psa 9 zards with sequential cert numbers for 42k each and he was practically blasted off again for it! Seems pretty legit now!
In other news, the fan club porygon was nearly 1500 for a bgs 8.5 so buying the psa 9 for 1.6k was a steal I think! Rattles in the case though annoyingly.
Bgs seems to be getting a premium for the offered sub grades and cross collectors possibly.
