In the collectibles “industry” there are three big grading services for cards PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), SGC (Sportscard Guarantee Corporation), and BGS (Beckett Grading Service). Recently BGS, considered the gold standard of 10s among collectors, has announced they wanted to change their grading scale near the top. Turning a card with four 9.5 subratings from Gem Mint to Mint+. This seemingly subtle change has sparked anarchy on card twitter over the past 2 days.
Here are the grading scales of top providers presented for context:
PSA Grading Scale
SGC Grading Scale
BGS Grading Scale (Proposed)
Why would relegating quad 9.5s to a seperate rating cause such anger? It wipes out perceived value in a collector’s collection. Suddenly 30-60% of your Gem Mints are now Mint+. Beckett Collectibles responded to the controversy and will be backtracking on their proposed grading scale change.
