Any info. on SGC lately ?

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Posted By: Brian H (misunderestimated)

I know SGC has recently undergone some leadership/ownership changes. I wondered if nayone has a take on whether they have made any changes etc. ? Just curious because I am rooting for SGC and I know many of the frequent posters on this Board have similar enthusiasm.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I just got a big batch of cards back from SGC and there didn't seem to be any problems or delays.

Jay

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Posted By: t-206collector

...at a show in New Haven, CT in April. He was doing on-site grading for SGC at the time. I had 18 cards encapsulated by them at that show with 20 business day turnaround. The cards arrived right on time and were encapsulated just as Mike had predicted they would.

For what it's worth, Mike felt like SGC had been treading water in terms of operational growth and market share under previous management but that the new management was expected to take SGC much further. He was very optimistic.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

Back on my soap box.

If anyone knows anybody at SGC that has any vision then please present them with the following:

Create a new grade called SGC10A.

SGC10 is the lowest grade that SGC will assign.

There are plenty of original/authentic cards out there that have been trimmed, have had color added or have been altered to some degree. SGC or PSA will not give them the time of day. The cards may be original yet they carry that stigma of being altered.

By assigning a grade of SGC10 to the card everyone will know that the card is bottom of the barrel as far as grading goes but the A "qualifier" or "assignment" could let the public know that the card is original/authentic but has been altered from it's original state. Thus the grade of SGC10A.

I'm sure there is a great market for this type of service. It would allow people that only want authentic cards to collect a lower graded filler until some time in the future that a nicer one is more affordable or attainable.

There are plenty of authentic/original altered cards out there that people would send in just so that they can have them authenticated as being REAL. This isn't just a niche market, this can be big. This wouldn't ruin the integrity of grading rather it would add to an offering that I believe would be widely accepted and embraced. In an auction I'd rather bid on an encapsulated SGC10A card than a raw questionable card that will probably come back as altered. This could help close the door on some of those fly by night so called "Pro"fessional grading services that haven't a clue (or a shred of integrity) to what they are doing to a great hobby.


Why doesn't someone at SGC take the bull by the horns and take this step - be innovative. Don't be a follower, be a leader. I wouldn't doubt that PSA may someday do this and thus force the issue at SGC. Why be a day late? or a dollar short? or just plain behind the curve? Take that next step and force PSA into being the follower for a change. Does anyone at SGC have VISION?

Tell'em Judge Dred said so.....

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Posted By: jay behrens

SGC's division that grades comics already grades altered comics. Altered books get a different color label and note stating the alteration. It certainly wouldn't be ahrd for them to do this with cards.

Jay

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

My last submission arrived ahead of schedule, never had that happen before. Always great customer service. I also agree with them finding a way to slab authentic cards.

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Posted By: john grillo

Judge Dred...I wanted to add that GAI does encapsulate trimmed cards. They will label the slab "authentic" but will not assign a grade. I think PSA and SGC should follow suit. During their times of issue, many a tobacco card were trimmed, not to deceive anyone, but to fit the card in a wallet, an album, etc. I buy trimmed cards when collecting my sets, I just want an authenticated set and I am not too concerned about grades.

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Posted By: petecld

I have now received TWO submissions in a row on time. Thank you.

Dred,

I have been trying to get SGC to clearly label and slab altered materials for YEARS!!!!!! As mentioned, CGC (their comic grading brother) does it and comic collectors/dealers I've talked with have had nothing bad to say about the process. It certainly has helped the sales of lower graded comics (IMO).

I still see one thing that hasn't changed with SGC but that is another story. One battle at a time here.

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Posted By: Andy Baran

Are you sure that SGC will now slab cards and label them as authentic? They have been the only company that was not willing to do that. I know that both PSA and GAI will slab cards in this fashion.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

I called PSA and spoke to two different people on two different days. Both PSA reps stated that they will not encapsulate altered cards. I assumed that they meant cards that were obviously trimmed from an original size or cards that had color added, etc. I'm pretty sure that they didn't include hand cut cards like Post cereal, etc.

I saw that SGC graded some Zeenuts without the tabs. Interesting, those could be considered trimmed cards.....

It was posted (in this thread) that GAI grades trimmed cards and labels them AUTHENTIC without assigning a grade to them. This becomes very interesting because now we have the wild wild west of card grading. There are no industry standards. What a mess.

PSA doesn't even provide a definition for AUTHENTIC on their web site. But after reading this thread there's a contradiction of terms amongst grading companies.

I asked the last PSA person (with whom I spoke) to consider defining the AUTHENTIC nomenclature (of grading) on their labels. I guess nomenclature would be an incorrect term because that might imply that there is some type of scientific method or classification to the rather subjective and arduous task of grading - "hmmm, looks good to me, lets call it a 6".

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Posted By: AdamBaxter

I can't speak for other cards that SGC would consider trimmed, but I think that Zeenuts are given a degree of leeway due to the fact that A) The coupons or tabs were intended to be removed and B) There are so few Zeenuts out there with coupons, that the slabbed population would be next to zero if SGC or other authenticators didn't make some allowances for that issue. Zeenuts are probably handled by grading companies very similarly to strip cards. Some strip card are encapsulated, even though most strip cards issues are trimmed to seperate individual cards from a strip. With Zeenuts, Strip cards, etc., SGC probably checks to see whether the trimming occured during the time of issue or recently and then base their decision to slab them on that.

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Posted By: hrbaker

Two examples I have bought that carried the PSA-GAI Authentic nomenclature were a 60's Bazooka card that was cut from box but did not have enought of the dotted black line left around it to merit a grade.
I also purchased a few HOFers cut from 4 in 1 Exhibit cards that a dealer had graded by GAI as Authentic.