Beckett eliminating subgrades for Vintage (BVG)

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Posted By: Richard

I know that most of the audience here does not really care about Beckett grading. But this announcement does mark a change in thinking for a major grading house:

Beckett Grading Announces Changes to BVG Structure
Oct 5 2005 4:16PM

In September of 2001, Beckett Grading was the first third-party authentication service to create a system of grading vintage cards that took into account their unique characteristics. Vintage cards were produced using technology that is a far cry from the modern printing techniques used today, and it was only fair that they have their own grading system to match. Reaction to this new method was positive, and Beckett Vintage Grading made great inroads into the market. After four years of garnering opinions from BVG customers, there has been one overwhelming request: convert BVG to a single grade system without subgrades. We are happy to announce that on November 1st, we will be taking this new step. For most, this is a welcome conversion, while others of you may wonder how less can somehow be more. On modern cards, a subgrade system is critical in determining the exact breakdown of a card's highlights as well as its faults. It's rare that a single subgrade be considerably lower than the other three on most modern cards. On a vintage card, a single fault in one area (highly off-center, heavy surface print defects, excessively rounded corners, etc.) is much more common.

While subgrades did point out the best aspects of a vintage card, many times they focused attention on that one critical flaw that stood out most glaringly on the Report Card. Moving to a single grade system will better allow a vintage card to stand on its overall positive aesthetic merits instead of drawing excess attention to its lowest subgrade. Along with this change, we will also be discontinuing the $1 surcharge for vintage cards. Not only does this mean more savings for you, but it will also greatly simplify the submission process. A key requirement when we began Beckett Grading nearly seven years ago was making it simple for anyone to submit a card. No clubs to join, no need to submit through a middleman, and no complicated pricing chart based on the value of each individual card. Dropping the BVG surcharge means there is now only one simple submission form to use and one basic pricing structure. In a constantly changing industry, Beckett Media always wants to hear from you. What can we do to continually improve all of our services to best meet the needs of you, the collectors and dealers who drive this hobby? Email your thoughts to us here. Mark Anderson Manager of Beckett Grading Operations

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Posted By: Anonymous

I've never submitted to BVG (have submitted on BGS) but think that removing the surcharge and simplifying the submission process is good - I am guessing this means you can submit modern and pre-1980 on the same invoice now.

I think removing the subgrades is a mistake - to me it is the distinguishing characteristic of Beckett grading. However, I don't know that they do enough business in vintage for it to make much of a difference in revenues.

Adam B

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Posted By: Darren J. Duet

A certain marketing ploy to appease customers with higher grades.