A new company for submitting cards for autograph certification (Not PSA/DNA)

[Hawaiian BamBam]

Hello, Last night i read about SGC., i have never heard about this company before, but from what ive read so far, it looks like they are a very, very serious and legit new player in the game to challenge psa/dna for king of they hobby. they seem that good based on what i am reading so far. as long as they keep their prices low, have a very quick turnaround time and had good hard quality cases that will stand the test of time. i think they are on the verge of something great. one think i like already about them is that if an item doesnt pass, then you get credit for it. psa just keeps your money..which is not right! so, so far it looks like they r going to be the best next thing for autograph authentication. im going to send in a dozen cards or so and see what comes back )speed, quality of cases, i just hope the dont become the next GAI as i literally have tens of thousands of autographs to send in to the right company. anyone hear of this? any thoughts? they r located at , http://www.sgccard.com/ and ive noticed a ton of SGC authenticated cards popping up more and more on ebay. prices are usually ALOT cheaper than psa..your thoughts please.

 

[Champs96ws]

They have been around a very long time. Before beckett got into grading it was PSA and SGC as the standard.

 

[cjay101]

They are best known for their early vintage grading.....t206, etc. I always likes to 1 to 100 scale

 

[Dilferules]

Yeah SGC is one of the "big three" only trusted grading companies in the hobby and have been around for years and years, I'm surprised you hadn't heard of them.
Richard

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

after looking at pics of them, i have seen those green label slabs on ebay before, but stayed away from them after GAI went under. i stuck only to psa. i even stayed away from jsa for a bit. but there is now increasingly more and more talk on different trading sites that SGC is quietly becoming the next PSA or at least a very good alternative to PSA. their cards seem to be priced much cheaper than psa on ebay right now. thanks for all your responses, i appreciate it.

 

[valediction]

You seem very concerned with the authenticity of your collection. If it is really that much of an issue, get them graded. Pick a company and send them in. 90+% of the autographs out there would benefit very little if at all from authenticating. Notoriously tough signers, upper tier HOF'ers, and long time deceased players aside, it is rarely worth the money spent. Even at $10, you said you have 10's of thousands of autographs. That is $100,000- just in authenticating/encapsulation fees for just 10,000, plus shipping there, and back, and insurance. You make it sound like you have many more. Who do you think is going to pay $15 or $20 for an autograph they can get TTM for free? or non authenticated for $5? Even 20 or 30 years after he dies, I can't imagine a sudden surge in demand for his autograph. We don't know what the future holds, will PSA and SGC be found to be a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff could have dreamed up? Will they be the only reliable sources? Will somebody come along in eight or ten years that revolutionizes the authentication process and leaves them looking primitive by comparison?

I went to Twinsfest this year. I picked up a 1975 Hostess card of Tony Oliva for $5 (probably overpaid, but the event is centered around the Twins, so most of their stuff was jacked up a bit) Oliva and Gladden were autographing at one of the stations for $20 for the pair, one item per player. I got the hostess card signed by Oliva and Gladden on one of his cards. I'm now in it for $15. I send it to SGC and we'll say I had 9 more cards to send too, (just to avoid paying $11 return shipping for 1 card) That's still $10.65 shipping and insurance, so $1.07/card, $10 authenticating and slabbing, plus shipping there (say $3, so .30 a card) I'm into it for $25.40, if I sell on ebay for anywhere near that, I need another $2.50-$3 to cover fees. That means I need $28 or so just to break even. You have said that SGC items are selling for less than PSA items. Look at the stack of TTM I've picked up from members here: Joe Charboneau, Wayne Gross, Grant Jackson, fred Martinez, Rich Gedman, etc. most of these are $1-$3 signatures unslabbed, you'd have to find someone willing to pay $15 or so for them slabbed, and honestly, I'm not going to spend that kind of money so someone else can say my Keith Drumright autograph is real

 

[Droubaysports]

Valediction,
It is not for the everyday players thoug, it is mainly for deceased HOF caliber players (which Bam, like me collects) I have a ton that I have piced up from reputable sources that would benefit from being encased.. Guys like Sisler, Manush, walter Payton, John Wooden et al..These are the types of autos that would benefit from being authenticated and slabbed. for my lower end guys I use Spence becuase at $3-4 each depending on quantity they will authenticate the ones that benefit slightly from having a cert.

 

[valediction]

Valediction,
It is not for the everyday players thoug, it is mainly for deceased HOF caliber players (which Bam, like me collects) I have a ton that I have piced up from reputable sources that would benefit from being encased.. Guys like Sisler, Manush, walter Payton, John Wooden et al..These are the types of autos that would benefit from being authenticated and slabbed. for my lower end guys I use Spence becuase at $3-4 each depending on quantity they will authenticate the ones that benefit slightly from having a cert.

I understand that the upper tier HOF, deceased, and tougher sigs would benefit from authentication, I was just responding to the original post stating he has 10's of thousands of autographs to send in to the right company. Maybe I'm wrong and he does have monster box on top of monster box of that type of material. Again, even at 3-4 bucks apiece for the jsa sticker, sometimes it can help, but there are a lot of signatures that just aren't worth it. I know there are a lot of autographs I'd buy for $1 or maybe $2 that I wouldn't touch for $5 no matter what kind of authentication they have. Some people feel reassured by the JSA sticker, to me, it's like a BCCG slab, if it's already there I'll still take the card, but I'm not paying any extra for it. I prefer to deal with people I trust, compare the items myself to what's out there, and trust my judgement. Again, I'm not dealing in big $ autographs, that may change if I were buying Sisler, Payton, Maravich, etc.

 

[Droubaysports]

I think Elbert was overstating. I'll use SGc as protection, not to authenticate especially since in March is $8 for 1 and $6 for others. personally i wouldnt do guys like brooks robinson, feller or doerr due to the sheer quantity of stuff out there.

 

[valediction]

I agree. I picked up a raw 61 Fleer Feller auto for $15 at a show a couple years back, a week or so later, I saw the 1960 version on ebay, graded, authenticated, and slabbed PSA. I figured it would be nice to have the pair like that, so I made my offer for $15 + s/h, and the seller accepted. Nice card, but I would have made the same offer raw. Like I said it's a nice bonus for those kind of cards, but adds no value to me. If I were in the higher end market, different story entirely. I have just seen a few too many threads where people seem to want anything and everything authenticated, and there are just so many situations where it seems like it won't justify the return on the expense

 

[scc76]

Do they just do cards? I have a first day cover of Joe Dimaggio that I wouldn't mind getting authenticated.