Question: Which Grading Company is Best for Auto'd Cards?
 

I have a 2002 Topps Gallery Tom Brady Auto Artists proof that I want to send off & have slabbed. The question is, which is "better", PSA, BGS or????

I do not plan on selling the card anytime soon so turnaround time & short-term resale are mildly interesting.

Thanks in advance!

It all depends on what you mean by better? Highest resale, most secure case, best looking, most accurate graders/authenticators. All these different metrics are based on personal opinion outside of resale where currently PSA is king of the hill.
Unfortunately, the reality is that in 20yrs, regardless of whichever ranking or metric you choose, the list could be very different.


My big question in this situation is this, if you are not selling now, why bother slabbing now? Neither the plastic the card sits in nor the value of the opinion given appreciate in value. So why pay for it now? Use the.money to buy other things and slab it when you go to sell it.


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I do Beckett all the time

I'll authenticate it for half of what anybody else charges

All good points. I have it in a penny sleeve & top loader tucked away in the safe, but was thinking slabbed would give even more protection against damage. Thanks for the inputs!

I agree 100%. I definitely think you probably should have it better protected than just a penny sleeve. There are plenty of slabs that are way safer and dont require you to pay for shipping/insurance both ways and a third party opinion you don't need right now as well as having to trust that it doesn't get lost during shipping.

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I disagree with this part.
With the rapid increase in prices of both cards and grading fees if you wait to get it graded in 1 or 5 or 10 years if the value of the card increases or the price of the grading/authentication companies increases it will wind up costing way more money to get it slabbed.

That might not be a huge deal to some, but it does count for something.

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I understand your point, but disagree in it's impact. I know the card may go up and cert fees might as well, but I think the current increase in fees were largely pandemic driven. So many people entered the hobby, many of whom were basically breaking/ripping, certing fishing for 10s and then flipping cards as investments, that PSA had to raise prices and shut down cheaper service levels to try to decrease submissions artificially. IMO, what will happen is that either, PSA /etc will drop their prices again once they deal with the back log or other companies will step up to fill the market need. Either way, certing costs should eventually go down to pre-pandemic levels or at least close.
Additionally, people seem to discount the risk involved with using TPA's. THe reality is that the service they provide is based on reputation primarily. People pay more for PSA because they feel they are reliable in their opinions. All it would take is one big scandal for any of these companies to lose their rep and the value of their certs goes down. It happen with GAI and it could happen again. I am not wishing for it, but it's still a risk.
Personally, I would rather take the money spent on certs and buy more autographs. I would rather spend those thousands on another Ruth auto than the plastic. Prices for slabbing and certing will certainly go up slowly over time. I just feel the value of the extra autos you can buy with the money will outpace those slab fee increases.
Hey, people should collect what they want, how they want. If you, or anyone else, thinks slabbing is orth it, then go for it.

About a year ago, I sent 5 autographed cards to Beckett. All 5 cards I got from reputable sources that I trusted and all 5 came back "not authentic". I sent the same 5 to PSA and 4/5 came back encapsulated. In my opinion, Beckett is just garbage, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON BECKETT. I would rather pay extra and wait longer for PSA which is the industry gold standard.

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I am not a fan of BGS

What do you not like about them?

From a liquidity standpoint, I would use PSA. Its' PSA/DNA encapsulation service is separate from the card grading division. I was told thru email recently the turnaround time is 20 business days with an estimated two calendar weeks buffer from the time it receives the submission from carrier.

The scenario at the National is even better with some specials and turnaround time by end of convention. I'm going to have it authenticate 3 hardcover books, 2 DVDs and a number of sports items. Saving 15% on many of the fees and of course no shipping charges.

PSA/DNA Ask for Dual Auto (Card & Sig).
This is most desired by Auto card collectors and Registry guys.
My two cents.
RayB

I have had some issues with Beckett in the past, enough to never want to use them again.

In person auto's at cards shows. I watched the cards get signed, Beckett said not authentic.

True, but you have to keep in mind that all of these 3rd parties are just that, opinions. And I’ve heard similar stories like yours from all 3 of the major authenticating companies. For PSA, now folks don’t want to buy any item with a newer PSA sticker because they think it is bad. Just story after story.

How very true.

Never had a problem with SGC, then they stopped authenticating.