BGS

[TBT]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Most of us are intelligent and secure enough to understand and appreciate that a 9.5 is gem mint, and that there are differing degrees of gem mint. Same goes for PSA. The only people who want a new scale are people who see the addition of another 10 as a cash grab for themselves.

Interesting, I see it as the opposite. I think there’s a lot of money being made right now by buying high grade BGS 9.5s (cards which under an updated system would be classified rightly as Gem Mt+), crossing them to PSA 10, and selling them for significantly more than their original purchase price. And this is happening despite the fact that the original BGS-graded card is virtually guaranteed to be in better condition than some percentage of PSA 10s of the same card, owing to the simple fact that PSA’s Gem Mt classification is quite broad and lacks transparency. We are in a situation where PSA is not only avoiding any experience of pain tied to the inadequacy of its grading scale, but is actually benefitting from its inadequacy. And all because it puts the number 10 on a Gem Mt card, while BGS doesn’t.

I agree that most people here are intelligent and educated enough to understand the degrees of Gem Mt without a change from BGS. But wouldn’t a minor update assist the masses who are uneducated? Wouldn’t it allow them to avoid paying a premium for a PSA 10 on the basis of an ignorant belief that it is in “better” condition than a card currently labeled as a true gem BGS 9.5? The only person who suffers from the update is the one who currently benefits from others’ ignorance.