What the Hell SGC I am out

[jchcollins]

This was my gift from SGC in yesterday's mail. The ultra rare, 1963 Topps #200 SP Mickey Mantle "Clubhouse Pube" card!

Really, WTF. How does this get through QC? Brent was of course apologetic, and offered shipping and a reholder and quick turn around, but instead I just had him refund me and popped it. Mickey is now resting in a shiny new One Touch, where I managed to get the job done without encapsulating errant short and curlies from my nether regions. I'm done, have no stomach to send those guys my cards anymore. This was after last year dealing with defective slab inserts that had misshapen plastic shards sticking into the edges of other Mantle cards.

I do love a properly graded card in an attractive slab, but from now on will seek out 3rd party sellers where I can inspect the slabs first over sending my own raw vintage in. The disgust factor / "these guys know more about grading than me, really?" aspect of this was just too much for me. I'm an (apparently emotional) Cubs fan, if that makes a difference. That was a line too humorous to pass up on other social media yesterday...

For your viewing pleasure, The Mick - Peter Griffin style. A shame they don't have dual grading on relics, as I'm pretty sure the pube itself would have been at least a 7. Strong texture and curl:

[G1911]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

This was my gift from SGC in yesterday's mail. The ultra rare, 1963 Topps #200 SP Mickey Mantle "Clubhouse Pube" card!

Really, WTF. How does this get through QC? Brent was of course apologetic, and offered shipping and a reholder and quick turn around, but instead I just had him refund me and popped it. Mickey is now resting in a shiny new One Touch, where I managed to get the job done without encapsulating errant short and curlies from my nether regions. I'm done, have no stomach to send those guys my cards anymore. This was after last year dealing with defective slab inserts that had misshapen plastic shards sticking into the edges of other Mantle cards.

I do love a properly graded card in an attractive slab, but from now on will seek out 3rd party sellers where I can inspect the slabs first over sending my own raw vintage in. The disgust factor / "these guys know more about grading than me, really?" aspect of this was just too much for me. I'm an (apparently emotional) Cubs fan, if that makes a difference. That was a line too humorous to pass up on other social media yesterday...

For your viewing pleasure, The Mick - Peter Griffin style. A shame they don't have dual grading on relics, as I'm pretty sure the pube itself would have been at least a 7. Strong texture and curl:

I must have missed this saga originally. That must be pretty annoying to be the recipient, but damn is that funny. I have no trust in the graders, but I do sincerely expect them to not encase their pubes with the card. That's a first

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by G1911

I must have missed this saga originally. That must be pretty annoying to be the recipient, but damn is that funny. I have no trust in the graders, but I do sincerely expect them to not encase their pubes with the card. That's a first

Right. I got a laugh out of it myself after they gave me my money back. I would rather have had that card in a nice slab, but really just question the professionalism of SGC anymore. Though arguably the worst, this is by far not the first issue like this I have had with them. They have been known to seal up other crap like lint and errant dust on the regular. PSA does it too, with some kind of tiny transparent plastic squares that somehow infest their grading rooms. I will admit I was not expecting pubic hair (assuming that is really what it was...) that was a first, LOL.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Right. I got a laugh out of it myself after they gave me my money back. I would rather have had that card in a nice slab, but really just question the professionalism of SGC anymore. Though arguably the worst, this is by far not the first issue like this I have had with them.

I have seen their YouTube videos of the "behind the scenes" footage. I am really pulling for them. They proclaimed themselves to be underdogs, and I know that to be true. That being said....

This was uncalled for. A simple quality control would have caught that. You are right, the people grading and handling these cards know less about them that you and I.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I




This was uncalled for. A simple quality control would have caught that. You are right, the people grading and handling these cards know less about them that you and I.

And yet the sheep will continue to line up to give them their money.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

And yet the sheep will continue to line up to give them their money.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

For SGC at least, one less sheep now after yesterday! LOL.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Right. I got a laugh out of it myself after they gave me my money back. I would rather have had that card in a nice slab, but really just question the professionalism of SGC anymore. Though arguably the worst, this is by far not the first issue like this I have had with them. They have been known to seal up other crap like lint and errant dust on the regular. PSA does it too, with some kind of tiny transparent plastic squares that somehow infest their grading rooms. I will admit I was not expecting pubic hair (assuming that is really what it was...) that was a first, LOL.

Considering that they are supposed to be 'preserving' items, slabs should of course be free of anything else sealed up into them, but.... I mean, I can't even figure out the logistics here of how that gets in. The grader is scratching his ball 'fro while he examines Mantle's? This sounds like a grading incident I'd make up as a rhetorical joke, not a real thing

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by G1911

Considering that they are supposed to be 'preserving' items, slabs should of course be free of anything else sealed up into them, but...

Considering the leading TPG's "preservationists" is laughable at best. There is far too much $$$ involved. If you really had museum expert caliber people seeing to the care of your cards at PSA and SGC, there would be a lot more use of Mylar, discussion of preservation materials than there would be simply minting of cheap plastic slabs for profit. The HOF in Cooperstown looks at all of this kind of paranoia among collectors with amusement and disdain, if I had to guess. If someone donates cards to them (and doesn't just loan them a collection) - the first thing they do is bust the slabs and throw them in the trash.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Considering the leading TPG's "preservationists" is laughable at best. There is far too much profit motive involved. If you really had museum expert caliber people seeing to the care of your cards at PSA and SGC, there would be a lot more use of Mylar and preservation materials than there would be talk of grading and flips. The HOF in Cooperstown looks at all of this kind of paranoia among collectors with amusement and disdain, if I had to guess. If someone donates cards to them (and doesn't just loan them a collection) - the first thing they do is bust the slabs and throw them in the trash.

Oh I agree, it’s a load of BS, but all of them claim to be preserving items as part of their business. They’re really there to fuel the $$$ stream and nothing else, but they lay much claim to preservation, to objective expert analysis, and more. As such, they shouldn’t be allowing any contaminants to get into slabs they’re sending out to customers at all, but I understand how dust and plastic and other non-pubic things get in there.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by G1911

Oh I agree, it’s a load of BS, but all of them claim to be preserving items as part of their business. They’re really there to fuel the $$$ stream and nothing else, but they lay much claim to preservation, to objective expert analysis, and more. As such, they shouldn’t be allowing any contaminants to get into slabs they’re sending out to customers at all, but I understand how dust and plastic and other non-pubic things get in there.

Agreed. The preservation argument is marketing BS as it's finest. As if any collector who has been doing this for more than five minutes can't protect their cards just as well in One Touches or toploaders or Card Savers or album pages... You kind of have to try to be rough on some of those things anymore to damage them, and certainly people who know what they are doing aren't going to. It's been common knowledge that "baseball cards are worth something" from a household / pop culture perspective for multiple generations now. I'm not really worried about "preserving" my cards when I sub to SGC. I fall prey to the trend like everyone else and want to see what that flip will say...