Posted By:
Judge Dred (Fred)I've only submitted to SGC and PSA. I have however purchased cards that were graded by many different companies (SGC, PSA, GAI, ASA, BVG, SCD).
I found that I got the best value for the SCD graded cards. IMO they seemed to be where I would have expected the grades to be. In a few cases I think SCD graded the cards harshly but I would never be hesitant to purchase an SCD graded card.
ASA cards were overgraded but they crossed over to SGC a grade or two lower.
I've never purchased a PRO card for obvious reasons.
I've picked up a few BVG cards and I think they are a bit off in their subjectivity. A BVG 4 may be a PSA or SGC 3.
GAI seems to be a bit generous in their numerical assignments. Some cards I've seen (IMO) seemed to be possibly trimmed. This is based on my experience with a few different issues. I do like the little identifying tabs at the top of the holders.
PSA tends to do an alright job. Something that needs to be considered is the volume of cards that they grade. I don't care for a lot of the holders because the cards will shift position (even in the sleeves). Something that can't be denied is that PSA cards seem to garnish the highest auction prices in the "common" card (not tough issues, T206, N172, etc) arena.
SGC is a good choice. For the most part, they have accurate grading and their forte seems to be VINTAGE cards. The custom holders (black inserts) and grading put them in the top tier (IMO).
To answer the question - PRO is the worst of the ones I've seen. If you look at the three considered the top graders (SGC, PSA and GAI) then the answer is GAI being the least liked by me.
Everyone knows what they say about opinions... they're like AHoles, everybody has one...