Is SGC On The Verge Of Passing PSA In Vintage Card Values? The Data Gives The Answer!!
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- I love doing data dives into vintage card prices and values. My original intent of this data pull was to compare how different players like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and Roberto Clemente, were performing against each other since the peak in the vintage card market. But, what I found to be the most interesting results of this analysis is how PSA values currently compare to SGC. To say I was surprised, is quite an understatement. Let me know your thoughts on this data and if you think the numbers are significant or not.
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All statements and opinions shared in this video (and all of my videos) are for entertainment purposes only, and are not investment advice. I consider Sports Cards to be a hobby, and not an investment. If you're interested in investment advice, I recommend connecting with a certified financial planner. - Спорт
great video graig. very informative. I love seeing lists and charts. especially when it comes to cards.
Thanks Ray. I hope you're doing well.
Starts at 7:00.
LOL.
Graig I would absolutely LOVE you to do this same charting on. Prewar cards on Ruth, Cobb and Gehrig, among others! Especially the Goudey’s and strip cards. There would be entertaining for me as I STILL am trying to buy a decent Ruth that is not so expensive…
It's super hard to do pre war because there aren't as many card transactions, which makes the results less reliable.
Wow! You did a lot of work. I commented recently that for lower value cards, say less than $100, I really couldn’t tell much of a cost difference on eBay between PSA and SGC slabs. Your work seems to confirm that and also holds true also for cards maybe less than $500. Regarding the data, I think it’s obvious that three data points for every card is not statistically accurate, though overall it does indicate some trends. I’m not a statistician, but it seems like many more data points than three would be needed for a truly significant study. One person getting a deal and another person overpaying because they like the look of a card can throw the data way off. Unless one is dealing with high-end cards, e.g., Mickey Mantle, it seems like the value of PSA and SGC are now comparable. I’m wondering how much PSA’s grading/pricing policy and long turnaround is dragging them down and SGC’s seemingly better customer service is leveling the playing field.
It was very time consuming and certainly isn't perfect. But, it does provide a decent snap shot.
This data is amazing. What a fascinating core sample of the golden era grading market during the pandemic.
Thanks Mook. It took a lot of time, and the comments show that there are quite a few PSA collectors out there that didn't enjoy the results. LOL.
I appreciate the time and passion you have for the analytics and economics of graded cards and totally get its your thing. I’ve just grown so tired of all of the analysis of cardboard on UA-cam. I’ve amassed a nice collection of raw and graded vintage over the years regardless of the label on the holder. The most fun I’ve had in the hobby in soooo long is getting back to my “roots” and buying “worthless” junk wax boxes and opening with my son. It’s reminded me why I loved this in the first place. I have not opened my vintage drawer in over 6 months. All should enjoy the hobby as they choose. Keep doing what you love. Just venting. 😂
I appreciate you watching and commenting.
I honestly was really interested in this and was very interesting. Love it. Great job and thank you for your hard work on gathering the info and presenting it so we could see.
Glad you found value in it.
Great video, Graig. I've noticed this while doing research on the cards for my National target list. It's awesome to see that confirmation compiled in this video. The part about this that bums me out is the fact that I prefer SGC and love getting them for less than PSA slabs. It's getting harder to do. Thanks for putting all the work in.
I agree Billy I also loved being able to buy the SGC slabs at discounted prices which I prefer over PSA slabs. Bummer the rest of the collecting community has caught on to that in a selfish way for us buying the same cards for cheaper.
@@Tim.K.1976 No doubt!
My pleasure, my friend.
The data dive videos are my favorite. These videos have motivated me to track the prices of the cards on my tier 1 want list. I find the trends are more useful than the values when negotiating prices and bidding on line. I’m considering expanding this to a more focused version of my tier 2 list as well.
I enjoy them too. Some people like to yell at me for them.
Some really amazing data Graig, thanks so much for crunching it and sharing the results!
As a vintage collector that prefers SGC this makes me happy, I felt that eventually SGC would start to close ground. Probably part of the reason collectors purchased SGC.
Enjoyed this a lot thanks again for all the work that went into it!
It'll be interesting to see how things continue to progress with Collectors owning both.
Great video!! Appreciate the analysis and thorough breakdown!
Thanks so much. It took a long time, but I enjoyed it.
Great information in this video - as someone who does data analytics as a "job in the real world", the way you tell the story is excellent. Kudos!
I really appreciate these kind words. Thank you.
You da data monster!! Thanks for all your hard work Graig.
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Would be very interesting to compare older PSA slabs (With an 8 or 9 in the beginning of the cert#). I feel PSA’s grading standards and inconsistency over the years contributes to the inaccuracy of their comparable data. I am buying only newer slabbed cards from PSA - newer 50’s PSA 4’s and 5’s look like their old 7’s in my opinion which is why comparing PSA to SGC must include newly slabbed PSA cards. Great video Graig!
That would be really interesting for sure!! But, super duper time consuming. Not sure I can pull it off.
Love the data crunching- thank you for all your legwork! Looks like the most expensive cards are down the most percentage wise, maybe with people being more selective with their purchases? Cheers!
Thanks for the comments and watching. I appreciate it.
Gave a video like. Really enjoyed seeing the difference. Thanks for sharing
Thanks so much.
My Conclusion: The influx of collectors during the pandemic generally prefer SGC graded slabs over PSA and closed a large value gap with PSA. Why did SGC grain so much ground? The assigned grades are more consistent and accurate in SGC holders. Incredible data, Graig - this confirms what I’ve experienced anecdotally.
Thanks, Pal.
Appreciate the time/work put into this but think it’s a tad skewed and doesn’t really prove much at all. Low-mid grade cards really don’t matter - it’s all eye appeal vs the specific grading company. We can probably assume that an average sgc 4 would have better overall eye appeal than an average psa 4 (esp given all the old psa slabs that had generous grades) so it makes sense that if you’re buying eye appeal an sgc 4 would gain ground on a psa 4.
A truer test would be only counting the newer psa 4 slabs with stricter grading and not the old slabs where a psa 4 would grade a 2 by today’s standards.
And the bigger difference like others have mentioned is in the higher grades. Vintage Grades of 7+ I think PSA would still carry a significant premium over SGC.
Appreciate the video tho Graig. Whether we all agree or not it’s still valuable info and gets us all discussing! 👍
I respect that. Some people find different levels of value from the same data. Not for everyone, for sure.
I wasn’t surprised by any of it. 2022 was when quick flip day traders were hopping into the space. Their slab of choice was PSA and they focused on only the biggest names.
Now in 2024 you are seeing what collectors want. There will always be some influence on pricing by the registry folks. I think some of what you see with Mantle is the money flex culture folks will go for him and they seem to always be in the PSA or it’s trash camp.
On a personal note, I guess I did really well buying almost all of my Mays run in 2022. 🤣
Thanks for watching, John.
I freaking love when you take a dive into this data even though it never ever surprises me nor does it even matter since I dont care what the number says or what slab its in 😂😂😂😂😂. My favorite part is the player percentage info at the end, now that is something I can use in my purchasing brain. Now is the time to hunt more Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays cards 😂😂😂😂 oh I already do that 😂😂😂. Your the best Graig thanks for all the work you put into these 👊👊
Thanks Dylan. Appreciate you.
Graig, Thank you so much for this data. This data gives more insight into the question I asked on (Yesterday's) Wednesday's Question and answer day. Maybe you can go into my question even more now that you have this data. I continue to see this downward trend in the market. I just wonder if we are at the bottom yet or is there more pain to come.
I don't look at is as pain. If there are quality cards at affordable prices, that's a W, in my book.
The market will continue downwards. Great for hobbyist collecting for fun, terrible if you think your cards are investments.
I think it depends on the card. Some are going up. Many are going down.
Unless it’s a high grade card, i honestly think a mid/low vintage grade in any slab is irrelevant for PSA, SGC, BVS.
Eye appeal is everything for vintage when comparing a low/mid grade. I have a 1968 Topps Johnny Bench Rookie PSA 2 and it has great centering and great eye appeal. I honestly don’t know why they gave it a 2 as i can’t find a crease. I would never waste my $$$ upgrading it to a PSA 3, 4, 5 or PSA 6. And that’s kind of my point in how the grade is sort of irrelevant for vintage, except high grades. I’ll put my Bench PSA 2 next to any 3,4,5, or 6 and I don’t think you could tell the difference. That’s why doing a deep dive into and comparing grades or different companies is comparing apples and oranges.
Facts
Eye appeal is quickly becoming the most important factor. No doubt.
@@MidLifeCardsGrades have become less exact in pricing. Mid to lower grade card values can have extreme differences in prices within each grade. SGC 4s or PSA 4s can look drastically different and have big differences in pricing. Eye appeal has become the gauge for paying more within each grade. You can see $200+ differences in pricing one PSA 4 can sell for $100, while a PSA 4 with better eye appeal may sell for $350. Which makes it very hard now to just look at grades. A 5 is not necessarily a 5 in all cases.
Looking for the Goudey Ruth price changes primarily but the strip and T206 cards would be quite interesting
Not enough are bought and sold to have consistent data.
(As you are now mentioning)
The names that dropped the most, likely gained the most previously given the hype and ingrained perception of certain iconic cards.
Too bad the data starts only a few years ago.
I would live to see charts that encompass 1982-2024… would be interesting to compare the junk wax era spike to the Covid spike! 🎉
Totally agree. What goes up the most, will likely come down the most.
Long response because I love videos like this. Thanks for all the work!
Not going to 2022 National in Atlantic City saved me buying more at the peak. Usually spend half of my annual card budget at the National.
When the Mays costs flashed up I had a moment of excitement - until you said the cost was for 4s - if only 5s were that price! Mays is strange to compare since ‘52 and ‘53 are so tough. Anytime a reasonably centered ‘52 sells it is way over the average for the grade.
Liked that you used multiple grades due to data points - it shows that the closing of the PSA Gap is across a range of players and grades.
Wish you had used the full month averages instead of last 3 sales would have smoothed out the outliers. Still over that many cards the outliers probably even out between PSA and SGC.
I am slabnostic so the closing of the SGC to PSA gap disappoints me. About 20% of my vintage is in SGC holders and I have been enjoying the discount! I always root for market corrections so I can buy more. Though my collection has become quite valuable would rather afford cards that are likely out of my price range forever.
A theory of why the rookies are more valuable in PSA and dropped the most in PSA vs. 2nd and 3rd are SGC may be because investors/speculators buy primarily the rookie cards. They often buy ultramodern where SGC is a much smaller player than they are in Vintage so would definitely favor PSA. Collectors want all 3, most of us follow the worn-out adage - buy the card not the holder.
I wonder if part of why PSA bought SGC was because they saw that gap shrinking? I always thought it was to keep them from Fanatics.
Surprised Mays had the largest drop! Wonder if the names correspond to the grade - had to go lower grade on the biggest names - maybe 3s and 4s went down more than 5s?
Great work - really enjoyed the video. Thanks for all the time you put into this. Hope you get to the end of this comment - I usually try to keep them shorter.
Thanks so much. I appreciate your thoughtful comment and analysis.
Interesting video … I think you have a sample size issue. I think SGC has definitely gained but there are just not enough data points to be statistically significant. I’d be curious to see if the percentages would hold up over a larger sample size
For vintage cards, it would be impossible to have a significantly significant sample size. There just aren't enough sales. So, the error rate is certainly far from 100%. But, at least this gives some insight.
Basically tells me the star market is down about 17% since peak. You should do one for Football, and maybe a combination boxing and wrestling.
Or pre-war. Just a thought. I always like to know numbers. Thanks Graig
Heck yeah. Let's see some wrestling, brother!
If I had the time, I would. But, these take a really long time.
It may be as simple as SGC is better at grading eye appeal while PSA leans more technical. When we look at high grade- PSA will dominate.
No doubt eye appeal is part of it.
It is official. I am declaring you the hardest working man on you tube. Not only is your production value great, but now your deep diving on data. I am going to force you to relax and have a beer with me at the National lol.
Thanks buddy. I've done too much this summer. I need to find a way to scale back.
some amazing charting. I actually had to watch instead of listen.
That's Mr. Petty.
This is a fantastic breakdown. Thank you for all of your hard work. I have something that I would like to send to you for all of the info that you have provided. How do I send it to you?
That's really nice of you. If you email me at midlifecards@gmail.com I can get you the info.
am i crazy for grading a rookie jordan with sgc its 12 bucks a card rn...
Is it raw? I'd probably grade it with SGC or PSA just to ensure it's authentic and unaltered.
This is awesome!!! I love it when you geek out on the data. My two takeaways… in general SGC has the most consistent grading, leading to a better buy and holding the value. New collectors like myself enjoy the SGc holder for there best vintage cards. I see this trend holding and possibly accelerating into the future. 😃
Glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks.
Awesome analysis! Now we would love you to do a similar follow-up video analysis of Pre-war cards (Cobb, Speaker, LaJoie, Young, Johnson, Matty, Ruth, Fox, Gehrig and Greenberg). Great stuff!
Or perhaps Hornsby in place of Greenberg (assuming you want to stick with 10 players).
There aren't enough data points and sales of pre war cards to have reliable data. That's my main concern.
Very interesting, Graig. The fact that SGC is actually close in value to PSA cards for vintage baseball is really interesting. It would make me more bullish on SGC if it didn't have the same parent company as PSA. I worry that instead of improving SGC further with a registry and nicer population report, Collectors will see this and just jack up the price on SGC grading.
LOL. Yeah. Will be interesting to see what happens moving forward with SGC.
It didn't surprise me at all. I have been pointing out PSA's issues and why SGC is on the rise for a while now. Cool data mining! Thank you for sharing your results!
Thanks for watching.
If someone didn’t know better, they’d think you teach economics in school, lol. Man! It would take me 6 months to put this video together if I could even do it! 😂 Thank you for all the time you put in for this and us. Really interesting deep dive. No doubt Collectors Black Division is catching up on Collectors Red Division. 😆
The PSA fans hate me for this video. Meanwhile, 2/3s of my collection is in PSA holders.
@@MidLifeCards If people hate you, they’re insane. So no worries 😉
Vintage PSA is being overtaken by SGC. As I have said before, SGC is the eye appeal grader and PSA takes off for things that don't detract from eye appeal. It will be interesting if the parent company that owns both grading services makes a judgement to increase PSA's grading appeal.
Collectors Universe will not definitely, but probably do what they can to keep PSA as the front runner.
Overtaken, so they bought them.
I only buy SGC slabbed pre-war cards now because they look so much better than PSA. My personal choice of course, but how that effects the value doesn't mean much to me because my cards are staying with me forever.
The black Tux does look great.
Just pick say a 1982 donruss cal rookie sgc has strict mandates on centering psa in the past not so much how can anyone buy a 10 thats off center on the front and back some psa 10’s are 55/45 or 50/50 but some are way off
Interesting.
PSA's magic is not for mid-grade cards like this. PSA values are far superior than SGC's when grades get into the 7/8/9/10's for these cards. The registry starts to play a role at that point. With mid-grade cards like this, people are buying the eye-appeal and not the slab. I know these are the cards you like and pursue, but if you have a Hank Aaron 1954/1955 that can get a 7/8 you would be silly not to use PSA if all you care about is value.
This is, what I don't like about, the hobby. But not saying that you're wrong either.
@@ACD1994 I won't buy these cards either, but there are a lot of wealthy collectors and investors that pay this premium. I graded a nice $2 1968 Ron Santo and now I can sell for over $200 because it is in a PSA 9 slab.
I agree with you. PSA is all about the set registry. The higher grades are their sweet spot for that reason.
Very well done. It seems that for real world vintage cards, SGC has closed any perceived gap. That’s good news as I really prefer the look of the SGC black border.
I totally agree.
Hmm, crazy interesting… it seems that knowing more about the sales would enlighten us more… Would love to see (and might try to dig in myself) things purchased when both holders were available simultaneously. I imagine both do much better when the other isn’t around, or better put, when the card is the only one available it usually sells for more to someone who wants it now.
One thing I’ve noticed in vintage while set building is that prices can be all over the place. There have been several times where the PSA 7 cards available were listed for 2x of recent comps but the 8s owners were more reasonable, such that when I offered 120% comps to the 7, the counter I got back was only 15% less than just buying the available 8 at full comp. Grade to grade prices can be chaotic, so this probably makes it nearly impossible to track much better than you have.
No doubt it's not a perfect science. Some are high examples and others are low. Overall, I think it mostly evens out with the averages.
I think these points apply quite well for star cards. Given PSA historically being the set collector preference for registry, non-star cards I would imagine hold far more value in PSA, however that entire market is being wiped out, as grading costs are too high to support set collector grading. I think that is ultimately going to erode PSAs perceived lead in pricing. SGC is a far better service anyways. I just wish they would make their slabs a little tougher/solid.
Good points.
Ive been buying since the early 90’s and gravitated to bgs then sgc the psa cards always had a glaring defect in the 9 holders way back well now also almost bought a Griffey fleer glossy but the card was miscut terribly on the back i had no idea a card could be miscut terribly and get a straight grade of a 9
Consistency isn't their strength.
I only use FCG here in Dallas- they are awesome- have no trouble selling them on eBay and have them do all of my PC Cards. Now FCG is a tough grader- their 8s are other companies 9s
Awesome. Glad you've found a grader you really like.
As a hobby veteran of 35 years. When i look at show cases, Ebay listing, auctions. I feel most vintage is very overpriced except for pre war. Every dealer has dozens of $25,000 items new and old . One sip in the US economic situation these prices tumble or dealers quit selling. Unrealistic!
The rarity of pre war makes it a lot different than other vintage. No doubt.
Same old subjects 😢
Sorry you didn't find it interesting. Several news outlets show daily stock charts and get lots of views. I assumed people would care about updates to the card market.
By the way - this is one of the reasons Collectors bought SGC. SGC has been eating PSA market share in vintage cards, and this data helps explain why that has been happening.
Agreed and did Collectors buy SGC to hold them back from becoming the go to brand and keep PSA the their premium brand.
I agree. Completely. Why compete when you can buy.
The "king" of grading is going down(at least on vintage side) 😄
Time will tell.
Do you think this is almost entirely due to SCG recent popularity, versus having a lot of old PSA slabs that are on the old grading scale? To me I’d rather pay top dollar for a new SGC 5 vs an old PSA label 5 every day of the week.
I also commented this mid video, so you might have said this later lol.
Yes. I think this is a fair point and could be part of it.
You're trying to make numbers something out of nothing. I agree this is a complete wasted time watching because you're trying to take data and make sense out of it. However, you're forgetting that a five is not always a 5. Psa versus SGC doesn't matter. You have to look at the card and you're misleading people in your data dive.
I agree and disagree here. There is some validity to the numbers that he aggregated here. I'm not a statistician, but work in a heavily regulated field and interact with biostatisticians. You have a point that this type of analysis can create a number of confounding variables (eye appeal, environmental factors, etc). I do see this as a good precursor to creating a hypothesis that he is suggesting (vintage is down, PSA is down even more and SGC isn't down as much). In stats, we have a term: correlation does not mean causation. To prove this, we'd have to get very advanced and likely used a two-way ANOVA test and compare PSA to Price/Time and SGC to Price/Time. Then create a confidence interval/power and show there is a statistically significant difference between PSA and SGC. Who is gonna do that and then watch that lol? This is the laymans version which I would say is probably accurate even with the limited sample size.
Great video midlife
I appreciate you taking the time to watch and leave a comment.
@@MidLifeCards I realize I was not speaking very kindly. I apologize about that. The problem I have is there's so many people that want to use their platform to suggest they know something that other people should know. The data is just not very accurate to me for the message you're trying to send. I should have said it better though.
Psa labels are just gross and distracting
Some love them. Others hate them.
This is just nonsense had to stop watching.
LOL. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.