Very interesting video by Top10 comparing certain modern & vintage graded cards that are auctioning in today’s market in Gem Mint PSA 10 and CGC Pristine 10 comparing their realized prices.
My Take:
You would think the tougher to grade, many years removed, and less mint vintage cards with a “higher” grade would sell for more in a CGC 10 pristine label, but that just isn’t the case. The Vintage cards with the more “seasoned” collector values the PSA label over the CGC “Higher Graded” version. The Modern “surface level” collector would rather pay more for the “CGC 10 Pristine” label over the PSA 10 label.
These labels of collectors are just my opinion. I know seasoned collectors collect modern and newer collectors collect vintage, but it is all about what is valued more in the space.
Regardless, it is very interesting that the modern released cards with more in the pop report (Pop can be viewed as popularity, In know) and easier to grade are valued more in a CGC 10 Pristine than a PSA 10.
Obviously he coped out and chose to pick winners on both sides of the spectrum where it wasn’t truly a comparison video. A little misleading, but I understand the choice into doing so. You don’t want angry mob’s on both sides coming at their throats.
If we zoom out, there are much more semi-vintage to vintage than modern cards in PSA/CGC slabs.
In General it can be assumed:
Modern = more reach, more collectors, and hence the collector is statistically more naive and willing to overpay.
Vintage = more knowledge needed, less reach, and a deeper PSA-only collector pool.
General and statistically, PSA 10’s carry more value than CGC graded cards.
I agree with your main point (collectors with more time-in-hobby are more likely to buy PSA over CGC) but I think there may be a lot more factors at play than the quoted idea. “Older” collectors likely have way more PSA cards and don’t want to switch. CGC started in 2020, while it seems like 8000 years ago because of all we’ve been through since then, it’s a very new company. For example, in 2020 I had been submitting to PSA for 6 years and had completed multiple collection goals in PSA. Why would I buy CGC cards?
I also think “older” collectors are more likely to have given CGC a chance, and then been turned off by their choices. I submitted an order to CGC pretty soon after they opened. They gave all my mint cards 8.5s and all my dented cards 8s. Then they changed their grading standards to stop giving everything 8.5s because nobody was submitting, then changed their grading standards again, and changed their grading scale, and their label, because people still weren’t submitting. Long story short, the earlier you graded with CGC, the more screwed you were.
Years-ago past experiences and collection inertia don’t really have any objective bearing on a newer collector making a purchasing decision, however, so that can explain why newer collectors are more interested in CGC cards.
I agree. I’d also affirm the “brand loyalty” dynamic.
Grading modern cards is a relatively new paradigm, and during the boom, not only was CGC a cheaper option but also the only accessible option with PSA shutting down. I suspect many newer collectors (particularly modern collectors) gravitated toward CGC at least in part due to this. Once collections were started and submission routines established there is often a comfort and commitment to familiarity.
Brand loyalty is a well documented phenomena in psychology. Just as many older collectors (like myself) are stuck in our ways and want uniformity with our collections, it makes sense that newer collectors would be too. Obviously, these categories aren’t mutually exclusive (old vs. new collector, PSA vs. CGC collector, or vintage vs. modern collector) but there are observable correlations.
I genuinely don’t understand why people still grade mint vintage with CGC in order to sell. For the cards I collect (early EX Series), CGC 10 pristines consistently sell for (slightly) under PSA 10 prices. Yet even with CGC’s now-looser standards, it’s still more difficult to grade a CGC 10 pristine than a PSA 10.
Personally, the value discrepancy is a large part of why I collect CGC. Purely in terms of the price to actual card condition ratio, CGC is just a better deal for vintage than PSA. PSA has a brand premium priced in, whereas CGC doesn’t.
IMO, the PSA premium over CGC for vintage is solely a combination of brand loyalty + inertia. This doesn’t make PSA an objectively better or worse buy than CGC; it’s just something people ought to realize when deciding which company to collect.
I have some input on this. I have been selling Pristine 10 Masterball reverse holos for higher than PSA 10 prices as collectors are willing to pay more for the pristines than the Psa 10 counterparts.
I think it’s pretty simple. Vintage is harder to grade. PSA 10 is a sufficient challenge to collect. As others mentioned, people who collect vintage are already PSA collectors too.
Modern is not a challenge to acquire or grade. You need an artificial premium grade to make it sufficiently challenging.
Personally I’m turned off by the upcharges of PSA, the messages of damaged cards that seem to increase and their subpar customer service.
Although resell value is important to me, I’m in no rush and most of the cards I grade are hard to find cards. So grade/grading company might be less relevant in that case.
Yeah, this is the main reason I’ve bought CGC slabs at times; pure value play. Especially in the early days, I found many deals on the old 9.5 labels which are now 10s if I wanted to re-label them. Honestly with either company, I have no intentions to really sell 9.5s or 10s down the road as I wanted them as long-term collector pieces. I prefer PSA 10s overall, but I don’t rule out other options if it suits what I’m after for a given card. Lower/mid grades from either company are still great for cracking out for binders as well.
Because they want your eyeball money obviously. YouTubers can’t make money by writing a well written E4 Article with usefulness condensed information…
It’s first grade Admiral!
