JSA buys equity stake in SGC

[Leon]

I was just reading the SGC board and must have fallen asleep lately. It looks like Michael Goldberg is leaving SGC very soon and Sean Skeffington (VP) is already gone. I guess JSA bought an equity stake in the company. From what I read the graders are staying. This should be interesting.

[Matt]

On the plus side, I will now be able to get some of my signed cards moved to SGC.

[familytoad]

Leon,
Where did you find that news among the SGC board?

What do y'all think the prognosis looks like for SGC (opinions and hypothetical reasoning welcomed)

I know change is inevitable, but the loss of these guys and the departure of valued asset B Dwyer may be a tough pill to swallow.

[Orioles1954]

The industry is a 'changin. Look for 2011 to be especially interesting.

[Rich Klein]

At least in the new card market it was fascinating ---- Upper Deck being blown out of the water in their BB and FB license; and their money problems including having an MLBPA license but not producing one full set using that. There was an issue about not paying players for autographs earlier this year, guess that never got settled.

Panini and Topps basically becoming the only 2 card companies that matter.

Most of that was settled by April. but 2010 was the most important year for card company "moving" since 2005 when Fleer went bankrupt and Donruss/Leaf/Playoff lost their baseball license.

James probably has some better insight because of what he does for H&S but some of my questions would include:


1) Is the Federal investigation ever going to end -- and if so, with what if any indictments. Feds tend to move slowly but surely, so we may not even see this concluded in 2011

2) Auction Houses -- I think we already saw the 1st move towards some consolidation -- I could have sworn I saw that long time dealer Andy Madec has "merged" his business with Mile High -- I'll bet we have more to come in 2011.

Regards
Rich

[oldjudge]

I think losing Michael and Sean, if that is true, is a real loss. My personal view is that any combination with JSA dilutes SGC's credibility.

[sb1]

SGC or JSA, or whoever runs it now, at least put a hobby veteran in place as it's man to be the "face" of the company. Joe Delgrippo has been involved in the hobby in many different roles in the last 2 decades. I have personally known him since the late 1990's and know him to be a quality guy. Will SGC change? maybe, will the product change? probably not.

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

James probably has some better insight because of what he does for H&S but some of my questions would include:


1) Is the Federal investigation ever going to end -- and if so, with what if any indictments. Feds tend to move slowly but surely, so we may not even see this concluded in 2011

2) Auction Houses -- I think we already saw the 1st move towards some consolidation -- I could have sworn I saw that long time dealer Andy Madec has "merged" his business with Mile High -- I'll bet we have more to come in 2011.

Regards
Rich

Hi Rich,

I'm part of the day to day and I honestly never hear about the FBI. Mostly, because we don't have anything to worry about Auction houses have to get more innovative in order to sustain themselves. H&S is the only auction house I know of that has modern experts on board. That's a relatively untapped market that did VERY well for us in 2010.