Does anyone know how BGS, PSA, etc and the card grading system came about?

As a child, I was a huge collector of cards (baseball, basketball, football, garbage pail kids).

I went to college and post graduate in 1990s.

Now, I am back to the collecting game; one of the first things i noticed were graded cards became in vogue.

How did it get so popular? Did Beckett have something to do with it?

Who the heck pays $8 or more to get each card graded?

Sure, if I had an 1986 Fleer Jordan, I'd get it graded; but all the 1990s baseball cards are so commonplace.

Thanks for any answers anyone can post.


:confused:

yeah whats with that, I have no idea whats going on with that. It confuses me to the core.

I few a-holes that thought there cards should be worth more than they were.

what amazes me is how graded cards became so popular.

someone with a lot of money and connection had to "popularize" this so that the public would fall in line for it.

I mean, a PSA 10 Sage Lebron James (just out) goes for $1,999

but a PSA 9 goes for $499?

wow!!!

The pricing of graded cards is market demand and corporate price fixing. It all depends on what the card is and where it was graded.

As for how it all came about... some companies saw a demand for grading evaluations of collectibles. It actually was in coin & stamp collecting before sports cards or comics for quite some time. As the opportunity presented itself, the companies appeared. First PSA, then BGS & SGC... followed by many others. In this instance, 1st company to the industry made the big impression (PSA). It was then a combination of marketing, trade show appearances, and on site information sessions that really sold it. Collectors picked it up... and here we are.

Honestly, it makes sense, and the pricing will come down as demand increases. Expect it to become more prevalent and common for high end cards as time goes on.

Just my 3 cents... knowledge... whatever... :D
thekingpin

Originally posted by podstock

Who the heck pays $8 or more to get each card graded?



:confused:

I did through BGS :mad: and got back a lot of 8.5s:mad:

Call it stupidity. I thought they would all come back 9.5 but what did I know. Lesson: get a second opinion from someone with a trained eye

Plunge --- yep. hey, did ya try to sell it on Ebay to see what you would get?

Haven't yet. What I see with completed items, I'll be lucky to make $8 for all the cards I got graded COMBINED.

it's not just the quality of the card that should determine what you send in. It's also the book value. I wouldn't think of sending in any card valued at under $15 and that also had sharp corners, edges, clean surface, etc.

Touche, kingpin.

I believe graded cards got so big because so any people were selling fakes and as more people starting selling on the net where you really couldn't see the card the graded one's took off because then you knew at least the card was legit.

They're also in demand because the card has credibility. Mint to one person can be mint to another.

Well, I live right next to a PSA center -- located in Santa Ana, and have been seriously thinking about stopping by there to turn in my Jerry Rice rookies.

Can't decide whether to do it or not.

But, hey, Rice has a few years left, and not to mention his Hall-of-Fame induction...so I've got time while he's still in the spotlight.

Can't wait for the football season to start. Hoping Rice has another great year.

good points gio & plunge... podstock... it couldn't hurt! Think of it this way... you'd at least have them in very protective holders... and you'd know the grades, and they'd be worth a bit more too.

perhaps one day, PSA will have a special for first time users, where it costs just a couple of buck to grade any one card.

if that occurs, i'll get mine graded

BGS has had offers like this if you subscribe to some service whether their magazine or something like that. I think it was last year and you got two cards graded either for free or discounted.

thanks plunge..will be on lookout for that. I get email updates from Beckett.com, but haven't seen an offer similar to that yet.

the one key aspect of card grading is that it guarantees that the graded card will ALWAYS be in that condition. if you get a 9.5 gem mint, it will always be in that condition, unless you felt like cracking the case open for some odd reason. it also makes them worth more because there are so fewer of them. i bet almost every hockey collector has a 90-91 score jagr rookie, but how many has a perfect PSA 10 score jagr rookie?