SGC vs PSA

[T206Collector]

As I've explained on here a few times, grading is a pyramid. At the top, you have the 10s. 10 means perfection and thus all 10s will be identical. As you go down the pyramid, grades are set for a variety of reasons -- 9s almost all look the same, but 3s, 2s and 1s have a huge number of potential flaws, including paper loss on reverse, creasing, corner wear, etc. What makes a card an SGC 30 could be a variety of factors that tell you nothing about the eye appeal of the card without looking at it.

Professional grading is not designed to reflect eye appeal. It is designed to point out flaws, often hard to see or hidden, in a piece of card board. When you see a clean-looking SGC 30, you actually know there are a lot of hard to see flaws. When you see a badgered up SGC 30, what you see is what you get. But not all SGC 30s will look alike -- in fact, at that level of the "pyramid" you will have a lot of different looking cards.

This becomes problematic when sellers try to sell a PSA 2 for what a previous PSA 2 sold for. Without comparing both cards, going by the number alone gets you nowhere because what you don't know about the previous card is whether the damage was similar or whether the eye-appeal was comparable. Sometimes you can get a pretty good deal on a nice looking 2 when a seller is willing to use a previous ugly 2 as a comparable. This is why they say, "Buy the card, not the holder."

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There is another point being made in this thread about the leniency of SGC on corners and centering. But, see, I'm fine with that. In that sense, I think SGC more matches more own personal tolerance for such flaws. But, what I can't stand, are creases. To me, no PSA 5/SGC 60 should be creased. And, hands down the biggest error I see in collecting SGC 60/PSA 5 T206s and 33 Goudeys is PSA grading cards as 5 that have wrinkles and creases.

When I buy my cards sight unseen on the internet, I have a very good understanding of what a card that has a scan plus an SGC grade will look like when I get it in my hands. That is so totally untrue with PSA. There is definitely a lot more risk in buying higher grade PSA cards on the internet given hidden flaws found in their cards. If you see an SGC 60 with rounded corners and centering issues, at least you know what you're buying. And you will price that card accordingly. It's finding the hidden flaws -- the ONLY REASON people should be using TPG in the first place -- that I really need help with when I buy cards online. PSA is simply not as good at that. Period.