I nearly always go with PSA for the vague notion of brand (the image of product quality in my own personal view, and the network effect from it being the dominant platform in the eyes of the postwar marketplace, and the liquidity that being the "common currency" provides for PSA cards)
But I'll buy SGC (if centered) when the price beats the price of the same card in a PSA holder, with similar eye appeal, by a material amount. Eg, a 1969 SGC 84 Mickey Mantle Yellow Letter for $225 a while back.
I'll go with BVG, if the specific card has eye appeal and I just can't find a reasonable PSA or SGC version anywhere near SMR. My example here was a 1952 Topps Al Rosen. While SMR is $135 for a PSA 6, I spent months looking and bidding on decent PSA 6s that closed at over $250/300, with BINs in the $300-450 range. Finally, I found a nice centered BVG 6 for $125 and snapped it up.
|