Which Grading Company Is Most Reputable

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Posted By: Al Crisafulli

You'll get lots of different opinions when you ask a question like this, because so much of it is subjective. For example, some people have mentioned the Global flip, where you can see the name of the card just by looking at the slab, as a good thing. I think that anything that's designed so I don't have to actually look at my cards is a BAD thing.

Anyway, the question really has two answers, depending on why you're asking. Are you asking because you've got some cards that you want to have graded for resale, or are you asking because you're a card collector and you want to have your own cards graded, ACCURATELY, consistently, and then protected in an attractive holder?

If your answer is the latter, then you can't go wrong with SGC. PSA is also a very good bet. SGC tends to be more popular on this board, since SGC owns the prewar market and this is a prewar board. PSA is stronger as you get to more postwar issues, particularly 1960-80 or so. Some people think that SGC is a tougher grader, which is a good reputation for a grading company to have, I think. PSA has been around longer, and thus has graded more cards, and is a larger company.

If your answer is the former, there's probably someone better qualified to answer it. I don't collect cards to resell them; my cards are worth whatever they're worth, and I reject the silly notion that one piece of plastic will make them worth more than some other piece of plastic. I don't collect cards where the value is created by the plastic - I collect cards where the card INSIDE the plastic has the value, whatever that value may be - a dollar or a thousand dollars. If I have a realistic asking price for a card, someone will pay it, regardless of which holder it's in.

-Al

EDIT - for disclosure - I submit cards to SGC and PSA exclusively, would never think of using any other company, and the company I work for does work for SGC.