Greetings! I’ve looked at a good number of online pictures of the 1st edition Charizard ranging from 6-10 and I’ve been trying to ballpark a range. I wanted to call on some more seasoned eyes to see what ya’ll thought. I know that it can be challenging to determine this from pictures alone, but as there seems to be some rather large price jumps between a half point/point here and there, it would make the difference of which PSA price to pay. From the look of things and comparing PSA to BGS, for a 1st edition Charizard having a BGS vs PSA rated one doesn’t seem to impact the value too much in the current market (please correct me on this if this is inaccurate).
You are right that it’s hard to tell from pictures, especially through a top loader which tends to hide some surface scratches but from what I can see just of the back it looks like maybe a PSA 6-7. Quite a lot of edge ware and whitening.
Thanks for weighing in. In this case, the top loader is actually adding some surface stuff. I unfortunately didn’t realize how much the top loader ruined the pictures until I was no longer in the same physical location. The card looks much better in person. The light is really highlighting the white on the edges.
I found out that it’s hard to have a card collection insured, so I unfortunately don’t have access to the card for additional pictures.
Was asking if people had a ballpark range for a rating estimate. I’ve done my research and have my own rating, but didn’t want to post it as it might influence someone’s guess.
I’ve been leaning towards getting it BGS rated. PSA charges a very large fee for cards based on their declared value. I was just kind of putting that out there in case someone much more experienced had thoughts to the contrary.
While collectors prefer PSA by a large margin, you might earn more money grading with BGS depending on the card and its condition. I see a lot of unexperienced buyers overpaying on BGS or other companies slabs recently.
If there isn’t any damage that isn’t visible in the photos (i.e., dents, creases), then it should be a PSA 7. I’ve seen worse 8s, though, but I think an 8 would likely be a stretch. Should be a 7.
It is! With in-person comparisons and close ups compared to all of the photos I could find of 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9 I think there’s a pretty decent chance of an 8.5. I can see an 8 as well, but like another post said, I’ve seen many worse 8s that are worse. Especially with BGS, which I used for many comparisons because of the subgrades. I found the BGS rating algo and have been playing with the numbers and a JavaScript version of the calculator. I have centering pretty high and surface high as well. Those moving from a 9 to 10 (for the hypothetical sake of argument) can’t bump up the rating too much if edge/corners get a lower rating, meaning that the rating actually comes down to corners/edges. If it is edges 8, corners 8, then it’s an 8. If either edges or corners came at an 8.5, it would be an 8.5. If the stars aligned and it was 9 corners and 8.5 edges, could get a 9 (but I don’t think this is very likely at all).
I didn’t see nearly as many PSA rated cards. So between the grading fees and what appears to be an increased chance at a .5 higher rating, BGS seems to be the way to go for this one.
I agree with 7 probably for a modern PSA grade maybe even a 6 now unfortunately. A few years ago it might have gotten a weak 8 in the 2****** certs. BGS probably floating in an 8 to 8.5 range
This is what I would personally do if in your position: If you’re selling it I’d go with BGS fastest service as it will be less expensive grading fees.
If you’re going to keep for your collection I would go with PSA as it is a better choice for grading and it would match the rest of my collection.
iff a 2 cert 8 is worth the grade of a new cert 6-7 then anyone collecting stuff pre new cert is at a disadvantage, seems rubbish aslo ive seen 4 certs 8s with worse edgewear than that so im not sure how this theory of new certs getting harsher can even be a thing i thinks its more down to human pschology tbh
Like others have said, I would go BGS, they grade a lot more leniently for anything 8.5 and under, and a difference between a psa 7 and bgs 8-8.5 can be quite significant
I think quite a few people’s consenus is that if you were to randomly pick a new cert and an old cert in the same grade, the chances of the new cert being a better quality card would be higher. (Not necessarily my opinion, just what I have observed) But of course each card if different and there will be many old certs better than new and vice versa.