Comparing PSA, SGC, and BGS Prices for 10 of the Market's Hottest Modern Cards
Is this still a debate? In case you're wondering which grading company offers the most value, here are some things to consider.
I've been writing about PSA and BGS for a long timeālet me be clear: there is no blanket"best" grading company. Meaning, the choice between PSA, BGS, or any other option is highly personal and depends on your individual circumstances, preferences, and goals for your cards.
That said, there are differences between PSA, BGS, and SGC, and if you want to talk about what the market tends to favor, it's typically PSA, both in terms of the number of cards graded and resale value.
Here is what GemRate has to say in their July 2024 Grading Recap:
In terms of value, where it gets tricky for some is that a"10" in PSA terms is different than a 10 in BGS terms. Meaning, a BGS 9.5 is considered "gem mint" and a BGS 10 could either be "pristine" or can earn the "black label" for subgrades of "10" for each of the four major grading factors.
As an important note, a BGS 10 Black Label is far more elusive than a PSA 10. Thus, when comparing top grades of "gem mint," most will do so between a PSA 10 and a BGS 9.5. So, it's more common to see a PSA 10 than a BGS 10; BGS awards the 9.5 half-grade and PSA doesn't.
Value Comparisons
With all of that said, How does PSA compare to BGS and SGC in terms of slab value?
Again, I'll reiterate that comparisons are going to differ card by card, day by day.
The best I can do is list out the information I've uncovered, but please take it with a grain of salt, and think through the time of year, player, type of card, and more. For instance, right now Iām just looking at 10 modern cards. This could change if vintage, etc.
This is not guidance, and the information here is solely for informational purposes. All I'm doing is pulling data from Market Movers, so I encourage you to double-check for errors, etc. This data comes from the last 90 days of Market Movers, and Iāve used ChatGPT to help me make sense of it all. I tried to identify the āmost popularā cases considering breadth of grade and number of cards sold.
Shohei Ohtani 2018 Topps Chrome #150 Base (Pitching)
PSA 10: Avg $141.97, 394 Sales, Last Sale $146.25 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $109.29, 12 Sales, Last Sale $165.00 (08/24/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $101.03, 24 Sales, Last Sale $94.00 (08/18/2024)
BGS 10 Pristine: Avg $240.85, 13 Sales, Last Sale $228.50 (08/22/2024)
BGS 10 Black Label: Avg $1,606.43, 5 Sales, Last Sale $1275.00 (08/15/2024)
Elly De La Cruz 2022 Bowman #BCP-50 Chrome Prospects
PSA 10: Avg $53.66, 419 Sales, Last Sale $60.50 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $26.53, 10 Sales, Last Sale $21.00 (08/04/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $40.62, 14 Sales, Last Sale $22.50 (08/22/2024)
Jackson Chourio 2022 Bowman #BCP-79 Chrome Prospects (1st)
PSA 10: Avg $30.79, 279 Sales, Last Sale $39.50 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $22.49, 2 Sales, Last Sale $24.99 (07/18/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $18.80, 13 Sales, Last Sale $27.00 (08/20/2024)
Shohei Ohtani 2018 Topps Chrome Update #HMT32 Debut
PSA 10: Avg $110.07, 267 Sales, Last Sale $130.00 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $72.40, 4 Sales, Last Sale $90.00 (08/25/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $69.04, 17 Sales, Last Sale $109.95 (08/24/2024)
BGS 10 Pristine: Avg $295.80, 4 Sales, Last Sale $306.00 (08/21/2024)
Wyatt Langford 2023 Bowman Draft #BDC-106 Chrome - Refractor (1st)
PSA 10: Avg $83.08, 263 Sales, Last Sale $85.40 (08/22/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $56.00, 1 Sale, Last Sale $56.00 (07/11/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $45.05, 20 Sales, Last Sale $39.78 (08/22/2024)
Juan Soto 2018 Topps Chrome Update #HMT55 Base
PSA 10: Avg $83.54, 232 Sales, Last Sale $96.99 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $56.01, 10 Sales, Last Sale $74.99 (08/21/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $61.03, 14 Sales, Last Sale $59.99 (08/15/2024)
BGS 10 Pristine: Avg $160.02, 5 Sales, Last Sale $134.50 (07/07/2024)
Aaron Judge 2017 Topps Chrome #169 Base
PSA 10: Avg $148.72, 224 Sales, Last Sale $190.00 (08/25/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $74.95, 9 Sales, Last Sale $97.99 (07/30/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $97.33, 16 Sales, Last Sale $125.00 (08/22/2024)
Wyatt Langford 2023 Bowman Draft #BDC-106 Chrome (1st)
PSA 10: Avg $40.35, 312 Sales, Last Sale $27.95 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $26.06, 3 Sales, Last Sale $20.00 (08/15/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $27.12, 18 Sales, Last Sale $19.20 (08/11/2024)
Jackson Holliday 2022 Bowman Draft #BDC-168 Chrome (1st)
PSA 10: Avg $82.74, 204 Sales, Last Sale $91.31 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $26.06, 3 Sales, Last Sale $20.00 (08/15/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $39.82, 12 Sales, Last Sale $36.27 (08/24/2024)
Jasson Dominguez 2020 Bowman #BCP-8 Chrome Prospects (1st)
PSA 10: Avg $48.14, 196 Sales, Last Sale $31.00 (08/24/2024)
BGS 9.5: Avg $26.26, 5 Sales, Last Sale $21.50 (08/14/2024)
SGC 10: Avg $24.70, 8 Sales, Last Sale $21.60 (08/11/2024)
