Whats the "safest" grading company???
 

I know we have had many threads about whats the best Grading company to use, BUT...staying in the theme of all this fraud info news posted recently. If your buying a "high priced card (all relative) what would grading company would you feel most comfortable that it was Graded by???

Weather its an issue of a fake slab, a card that's given a grade BUT should of been "altered, or a cracked slab and another card put in its place.

Whats the safest company to buy a high end card from?

Taking preference and resale value out of the equation, and only considering the things you'd mentioned, I'd probably say BVG... Those slabs are hardcore, I can't imagine cracking them to swap in another card, would be an easy task..

I'd go with BVG if you don't care about resale. Those things almost kill you when trying to crack one. Many people have lost eyes with those cases.

I have had a shard from a cracked BGS slab enter my hand. It hurt.

A holder that looked as nice as SGC, was as tamper resistant as BVG, and had the resale value of PSA would be nice. :D

Since I can't have it all, I voted for BVG.

Surprised by the BVG love. I don't disagree. I just expected an SGC slam dunk.

Great to hear everyone's comments and poll answers!

Shocking that the company whose cards seemingly sell for the most money are only garnering 2+% of the vote. What's wrong with that picture?

Just jumped to 4.7%. Nevertheless, not a lot of confidence with the #1 company.

#1?... IMO PSA could not pour piss out of a boot with directions on the heel. SGC is by far and way the best of them. Customer service is excellent, turn around time is reasonable, and the black mat makes even terribly faded cards pop.

Ty Phelan

True, but until SGC figures out how to manage their population reports and registry better, PSA will always lead in that department. I prefer SGC over PSA with prewar stuff, but let's face it, people often buy PSA because of their more aesthetically pleasing registry. I'm floored that SGC has yet to hire someone to do a complete overhaul of that portion of their website. Shocking really...

Diferent tastes I guess. I like SGCs registry visually, especially the arch of cards you can scroll through at the top of a collection page.

Functionally there's a few things I don't like- listing T206s alphabetically by the players first name is one. And a couple sets are usually broken- can't add cards to the T206 backs set.

But this thread is about security, and neither PSA or SGC have particularly secure slabs. Beckett is a very solid slab, I haven't tried cracking one, but it looks like it would be hard to get apart without obvious damage. I think all three are about the same as far as accuracy goes. Some trims will get past anyone on occasion, and there are sets that are more challenging than others. But I figure they're all at about the same success rate if you figure in their volume.

I'm not sure just how they'd fix the security of the slabs. If they all went with something like Beckett people would complain that it's just to get everyone to reslab the cards. Something more technical would probably drive the cost up to where it wouldn't be competetive. (Maybe as an option on cards over a certian value?) The problem is that if there's enough money in it the fakers would get it figured out pretty quickly. Governments spend boatloads of money trying to stop counterfeitters, and the "new " bills are sometimes available as fakes right around the time the new real ones are released. Faking a card and plastic holder would be easy.

I've actually thought a lot about this stuff, I've thought about starting a super premium grading service with a few features that aren't used now. But it's just too complex and gaining any traction would be very very difficult.

Steve B

+1

As long as PSA high grade commons sell for astronomical amounts while high grade SGC commons barely sell for enough to get your grading fee back, then PSA will always be the leader. My vote was for "They are all in the same boat"...which is true. All of them have their pluses and minuses, and all of them make mistakes.

Off topic, but it's a shame that the grading companies don't take a high quality photograph of each card after its graded. It would be nice to have access to that database to see which cards have been broken out and regraded, etc.

I agree with the last sentence above, but when it comes to who is the "leader," I think that whole notion of a leader is rather moot-- when we focus on the cards and not their holders. If I want a card, I try and seek out the best specimen in my budget-- who the "leader" is just doesn't figure in. And I trust that if I ever choose to sell, with patience a great quality card will find a collector of cards and not a specific brand of holder.

Now with respect to the prices of graded commons and the PSA Registry driving that market, there is no debating that PSA graded commons sell for the most. But Registry Set collecting of commons is but one type of collector out there-- and may even rep a smaller segment of the buyers/collectors out there. I'd venture that there are more collectors who want the best examples they can afford of stars than there are collectors of graded commons.

A holder to me is kind of like a frame for a picture; I admire the painting far more than the frame.

Safest company
 

BVG by far has the safest holder. SGC IMO is the best/safest grader from an accuracy and trust perspective. The floating card in the PSA holders have deterred me from buying some PSA cards at times. Although SGC is my preference as a grader, I think BVG after some time in the vintage area will gain some traction for credibility in their grading. But the inner sleeve and solid plastic from BVG in unmatched for card safety.

Sgc
 

Personally, I love the SGC holder and superior customer service. They are currently working on upgrading their registry and will be making changes soon. I believe they are accurate, fair and more importantly, always deliver with courteous professional service.

i answered BVG...from a "safety" standpoint...in that their holders are by far the most tamper proof...and I just haven't seen many errors or gross mis-grades.

I prefer SGC for my grading whims...although their holders can be ridiculously easy to open...and PSA just sucks all around.

+1

Big +1 to the above.

Cheers,
Blair

Bob Freeman owner of Simple Auction Site is redoing most of the SGC website.

Thank goodness. I didn't mean to slam SGC though. They are my favorite, but just felt it was time for a makeover. :)

As for SGC, I've been seeing too many cards sliding behind or in front of the black inserts, and a couple their cases were not secured at all a few months back, well, maybe several months now. No drop, etc picked them up to scan and fell open. You should fix that.

Ain't that the truth. I had a case pop open out of nowhere. They need to upgrade the plastic they use. Seems really weak as well as prone to scuffs and scratches with the only handling being taking out of the shipment box.

The new SGC hi-Security holder is nice…makes looking at cards tough but hey it’s safe.

http://photos.imageevent.com/piojohn...d/huge/SGC.jpg

HA! No camera pointing to the back, thats where I'll cut to get the card out. :D


Steve B