This is a very important day, finally CGC has released the POP REPORT
Now we can make a comparison.
I did some research and these is the result :
CGC GEM Rate is it stable. They not give more GEM MINT grade (9.5,10, perfect 10).
You can compare Charizard Vmax from Champion’s path. The GEM MINT ratio is it 41%. The GEM MINT ratio of Charizard vstar 174 from Brilliant Stars released 25th February still 41%.
However that CGC give out more 10 may be true,you can see Champion path Charizard vs Brilliant Stars Charizard from 2.28% to 5,02 % but the number is still too low to be determined correctly. Anyway, CGC 10 is it harder than BGS 10. CGC Perfect 10, was x10 more difficult to get compare to BGS Black Label. ( Champion’s Path example). All of these for english at least.
For Japanese cards Black Label and Perfect 10 is it equal. GEM MINT CGC is it harder to get. BGS and PSA have >95% to get at least GEM MINT, while CGC just 74%.
My thought :
CGC 9.5 > PSA 10 CGC 10> (BGS,SGC,PSA) 10 SGC 10> PSA 10, BGS 9.5 BGS 10 > PSA 10, SGC 10
PSA 10 = BGS 9.5 80%. Of course I am talking about how hard to get and not value.
Let me know your thought!
This is not intended to be mean, but SGC is very, very new and their grading is all over the place - they’re one of the smaller companies that popped up during the pandemic, and from the graded examples that I’ve seen in person, there’s too much variability in their grades. I’d recommend focusing on the big boys - PSA, BGS, and trailing them is CGC.
SGC has actually been around a long time. There are some Pokemon cards graded from the 90s. They were a pretty lowkey company until the past few years. They are definitely more consistent than the never ending list of start up companies, but not near the volume or inertia of PSA.
I don’t think people care about low grade XD. I mean, imagine a perfect card, 10 centering, 10 corner, 10 edge, but there is a dent on card, immediately for PSA would be 7 or 6 right? While for the other company could be 9 or 8.
My predictions is
When all grading company grading fee will back to 10$ with same turnaround times. Only PSA and BGS will survive for Pokemon.
The real reason why people are grading with CGC right now is it the price and turnaround times.
For me , that I collect 99% modern cards will be, perfect card? Go to BGS for pristine 10 or black label. Notice a small flaw? Go for PSA 10 haha.
I think I’m going to stick with CGC personally… I agree that their prices for grading need to come down since their turnaround times have gotten much better.
Another thought to add is if you have a “perfect” card, where are people sending their cards? Do people try for black label instead of CGC perfect? That may play a role in % quad 10s given for a specific card.
I found SGC 9.5 to have an unusually high amount of corner and edge wear compared to that of CGC and BGS 9.5.
Marvel PMGs are known for being incredibly hard to grade just like their original sports counterparts. Sevens and eights are the norms. So I thought it was curious that there’s a few people grading with SGC and they’ve been getting a lot of nines and unusually high amounts of 9.5 for these pmgs. I personally don’t have confidence in SGC at 9.5 or below.
The WOTC 9.5s definitely seem to be on the rare side overall. I have a Base Set 2 Charizard CGC 9.5 and there’s only 6 of them so far in the pop, meanwhile the 9s and 8.5s piled up in comparison with much higher numbers. So it seems the grading is quite reliable when looking at the pops. I guess the question is, would these 9.5s actually be a PSA 10 quality card? It’s a nice card, but I’m still not 100% convinced that a 9.5 = PSA 10 level. I still think it comes down to the sub-grades and various other factors and I find PSA weighs the surface condition pretty highly on 10s they hand out… at least in my experience. I find PSA 10s are closer to Pristine than Gem Mint (even though it’s referred to as Gem Mint every time).
Either way, this is nice to finally have to help compare to the other graders and be able to get a better idea of numbers out there. They’ve graded a lot of MTG cards as well. The pop report is quite easy to navigate also.
Agreed. I have some SGC 9.5 cards I got for a good deal recently and they’re really clean cards but the centering would prevent them from getting a 10 except maybe at PSA if you have a lenient grader on the whole 65/35 rule. But as you said the card is Mint+ and not Gem Mint.
As others have pointed out SGC is not a new company. They’re one of four companies that PWCC accepts (BGS, CGC/CSG, PSA, and SGC). SGC is popular in vintage sports cards. You might recognize their older label with the green border and they used a 100 point scale.
Now ofcourse I don’t recommend grading with them because the value is not comparable to other 3 companies, but I wouldn’t discount a Pokemon card that graded with SGC that comes up with a good price.
Sorry if i misunderstood because of the english barrier but what you were saying but youre saying that it is HARDER to get a cgc 9.5 then a psa 10? (your statment CGC 9.5 > PSA 10 ). That cant be true right? Same for a psa10 being equal to a bgs 9.5 80% of the time?
It is harder to get a CGC 9.5 compared to a PSA 10. That said I would much rather have a PSA 10 than a CGC 9.5. And that is why I will probably never grade with CGC again.
Which leads to more confusion or is misleading in some sense (maybe I’m just an idiot I haven’t ruled that out yet). If we’re going by the title of the grade and not the number, then comparing it to PSA or cgc 9 (which are just Mint) I would find it disappointing. To me, as well as many other collectors, the difference between a 9 and a 10 for PSA is not that big. While cards that are graded PSA 9 can have a variety of very small issues and still get the nine, they don’t appear to have as much whitening and corner issues that I have personally seen with SGC 9.5.
People just like 10, this is something psychologically. 10 sounds better than 9.5. But CGC market is definitely getting more stable and recognizable.
But based on my grading experience. CGC 10 is extremely difficult. Pack fresh cards mostly will get bellow 9. CGC 9.5 is very good quality. If I cross my PSA to CGC, Most of my PSA 10 can’t get CGC 9.5, none will get CGC 10.
In my experience, much harder. My sets are hybrid PSA 10/CGC 9.5 and so far contain ~50 PSA 10s and ~20 CGC 9.5s. All of those CGC 9.5s are (with a couple exceptions) cleaner than >80% of my PSA 10s. Purely from a condition standpoint, CGC 9.5s seem to be superior cards (on average – there’s of course a TON of overlap). Again, this is just my experience.
That said, if someone offered me a choice between a free PSA 10 of a card and a free CGC 9.5 of the same card, I would take the PSA 10. Why? Because the market vastly prefers PSA 10s. Is this rational? Not really, IMO. But it’s the reality and I don’t see it changing anytime soon, if ever. But I’ll happily purchase a CGC 9.5 over a PSA 10 if the price is somewhat lower.
Totally agree. I collect other trading cards and I still feel that overall the 9.5s are a real solid value in Pokemon. I know it’s generally unpopular to do but if I can get a CGC or BGS 9.5 for only a bit more than a PSA 9 (or way less than the PSA 10), I won’t hesitate to buy it even if it may not necessarily be a PSA 10 capable card in the end. I’m usually less disappointed by them than a PSA 9 and they are still usually way cheaper than the PSA 10 copy will be despite really sitting close to a PSA 10 quality card. It’s pretty nuts how much a PSA 10 multiplier can be. I see the same thing happening in Sports cards where a BGS 9.5 is selling for a PSA 9 price on some cards now, lol.
Overall as far as condition goes in my Pokemon collection, maybe I’ve just gotten lucky but I feel my PSA 10s are usually just a bit better than my 9.5s on average depending on the sub-grades of the 9.5 card (even if all sub-grades are 9.5). I have maybe just a couple PSA 10s that I feel are on the ‘weak’ side but they still fit within the PSA 10 scale it seems. I’d say though overall that the 9.5 vs 10 is definitely much more of a coin toss difference than almost any other grade range.
