Please explain sgc grading

[Merrillstoys]

Can anyone please explain the SGC grading system to me?
If you don’t know the grade of a card then how can you know what value to send it in for.
If the card grades better then you think, and that jumps the value to the next tier, do they grade it at the lower grade? If the card grades lower then you think, do they send you money back?
I like the SGC holders and their grading but I haven’t sent in anything because of what I’ve stated above.

[barrysloate]

The value is for insurance purposes only. Just give the card a ballpark idea of what you think it is worth so you can determine a tier. It may come back with a grade higher or lower than you expect, but at that point the value you set is irrelevant.

[Matt]

It's a bit of a funny area - it's used for insurance purposes but also has a correlation to the grading tiers. They once called me because I valued a raw card I had won at public auction for $1300 at $1000 (I figured $25 was enough to pay) and I had to bump to the same day service on it.

[Merrillstoys]

thanks for the info---Merrill

[D. Bergin]

For those experienced, I wonder if you can just send a submission in with your CC number and let SGC decide the bill?

I've got some pretty obscure cards I'd like to send in but I don't quite relish figuring out all the tiers, sizes, values, etc....

[Kawika]

I just received a box of cards today from SGC so it's a pretty fresh topic for me. I think this will have been my fourth submittal to SGC and Brian and Michael have always made things super easy. I have attached a scan of my order which shows how loosy-goosy I filled out the form (I blocked out personal info, credit card number etc). They will come up with the Burdick numbers & years etc although if you can provide them I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. In my case I didn't enumerate the specific cards, just grouped them together into rough categories, gave ballpark values and, to make their life easier, provided them with quick'n'dirty scans of the cards. Sent 'em off registered mail, add money and stir, and voila'.

Edited to add upon re-reading the question: A few days after I mailed the package I called Brian in New Jersey to discuss the turnaround time and bill. You basically tell them how quick you want the cards back and they figure the bill and charge your CC. You can fine tune it yourself if you want to do the homework.

[D. Bergin]

Thanks for posting that David. Looks like you can just send them in a rough draft and let them take care of the billing part.

Funny, how long I've been in the hobby in one form or another.......I've had graded cards but I've never actually sent any in myself.

[Matt]

David - Did they let you valuate the Bonner H801-7 at $1000 and therefore only pay the $25?

[Kawika]

Matt- I filled the form out in a big hurry and put in declared values off the top of my age-addled head. I just had a look at my invoice from Legendary and, lo, Bonner was $1500 plus the vig = $1777, so I was way off. No matter. My understanding is that the "declared value" is more for insurance purposes if something goes missing and that SGC would ascertain the appropriate grading tier on their end, which it appears they did because my receipt showed the calculation "2 x 50", presumably for Bonner and the Matty T3, and, gee, this is a long sentence, ain't it? Anyway, Brian D. can clarify the above if necessary next time he is cruising cyberspace.
Anyway, here is Bonner in his new home. Looks smashing, ja? My instructions to Brian were that if it was going to grade at 10 to label it as "Authentic" instead. No way Jose is that card "Poor", to these eyes at least, and I didn't want it saying so on the flip. When I am dead and gone the next owner can submit for a re-grade if he so chooses.

[Kawika]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Funny, how long I've been in the hobby in one form or another.......I've had graded cards but I've never actually sent any in myself.

Addendum to D. Bergin: Same with me. After 7 or 8 years in the hobby, I made my first submittal across the table at the Chicago National and Michael Goldberg did all the work. I have subsequently made three more via mail, the first time with telephone assistance and a pep talk from Brian Dwyer. I had heard that PSA would rake you over the coals if you hadn't dotted the i's so I had my trepidations but with SGC it was easy pie.

[Matt]

David - because those two are oversized, my question was actually DOA because anything over $500 value is a $50 charge. I wasn't suggesting you did anything wrong by valuing it as you did; just curious how they handled it (or, rather, how they would have handled it if it wasn't oversized).

Looks great!

[Rob D.]

David,

If you ever decided to sell the Bonner, do you think you'd get it re-graded so it wouldn't be in an "Authentic" holder? I've thought about doing just what you did, but the reason I haven't is because if I ever did decide to sell the card(s), I assume a grade of "Authentic" would lead people to assume alteration.

[Kawika]

Rob: That's a good point and it did occur to me. My request to give an Authentic grade instead of a 10 Poor applied to all the cards I submitted and 7 or 8, primarily beater Zeenuts, came back Auth. Some of the cards are clearly altered (cf. the aerodynamic improvements made by some juvenile in 1921 on the ZN Pick), some more ambiguous (no obvious alterations to 14ZN Arlett). In fact, SGC did not disclose to me specifically whether any of the cards were bona fide Authentics or whether they were 10's that had been labeled according to my request. There is the possibility then that Bonner is, in fact, altered (although my trusty grading eye [<=joke] doesn't see anything suggesting that, nor do I recall Legendary's description, impeccably honest buggahs that they are [<=see above], mentioning such negatives). So if I were to sell Bonner I would be blowing smoke if I guaranteed a wary buyer it would grade numerically and the sensible thing to do would be to re-submit prior to selling. Short question, long answer. Whilst I own the card, however, its aesthetics as I perceive them are inconsistent with the word "Poor" and I would look at that designation with as much affection if it were an inkspot on his face.

[tbob]

Whenever I send in cards to SGC I tabulate value for insurance at what my replacement cost would be. If I have a lower grade card but I have spent 10 years trying to find it, I value it above book value for the grade because the chances are I won't find another for some time. That may not be how it is supposed to work but....

[Kawika]

Addendum: Just in case anyone's not clear where I stand in the grading wars, I have one foot in Jim Crandall Plastic Fantastic Land and the other in the raw Kentucky swamps of Frank Wakefield. I am not one to lose any sleep or reach for the anti-depressants because my 3 shouldabeen a 4 but I like the fact that grading companies can authenticate cards and quantify value via grading tiers to facilitate cardboard commerce in our slimeball world. I also like the fact that cards are protected from overzealous handling (I remember one of the first fights I had with my wife. She had picked up a raw Obak like it was an English Muffin and I scolded her and she thought I was an idiot). And sometimes they just look good damn good in their plastic coffins, witness Matty below. Au contraire I like the look of a bunch of raw cards spread out across the table or in a book, naked and glorious as the Lord intended. So I collect both ways.