Sports Illustrated Blog #8 – Should I grade? What is the Cost? What Should I expect?
Sports Illustrated Collectors:
Welcome to my 8th in a series of Sports Illustrated informational reviews. My 2nd installment of the grading Q and A session will wrap up this topic with the exception of any questions you may write me. I continue to receive the same question over and over – Should I grade my mags? Sounds simple but it’s not. Cost, time, and expectations are the critical factors to consider when making this decision. Let’s take these questions one at a time.
If you have any additional SI questions, please feel free to send them along to [email protected].
Thanks and I hope you enjoy!
John
Sports Illustrated Blog #8 – Should I grade? What is the Cost? What Should I expect?
Should I have my magazine collection graded?
No one knows the condition, hidden gems, current value and potential value of your collection better than you. Therefore, the decision whether or not to take the plunge is totally up to you – but there are two critical factors you will be happy you considered as part of your decision process – Cost and Expectation.
What are the costs of CGC grading?
CGC has a step costing program which is based on the length of time you are willing to wait for your graded mags to be returned. The costs and times below are approximate:
Modern – post 1975 – 8 weeks minimum – $30 ea.
Standard – 5 weeks – $55 ea.
Walk Thru – 1day – $84 ea.
These prices can be reduced by 20% by becoming a dealer which is a simple process. Contact the company for details and parameters. Shipping costs/registered mail will add to the above. Note that CGC may quote shorter lead times in their advertising but as their customer service group will be happy to inform you, their published terms are only estimates and are subject to change at any time and without notice.
If I decide to grade, what should be my expectations?
Answering this question for yourself is the most important consideration before you devote serious cash to the project. Your personal evaluation of the condition (approx grade) of your ungraded magazines will help create the proper set of expectations of the actual grade results. Until you do this a few times, your skill level in accurately predicting actual grade returns will be low/unskilled. What I mean to say here is most collectors have a more optimistic view of their collection’s value and condition than a totally unbiased grader such as CGC. White gloves, magnifying glasses, spectrometers etc etc. are their tools of the trade – not yours. The first time you send out 20 magazines and actually read the CGC detail of defects/faults which they use to describe your prized pieces, you will very likely be disappointed at their findings. But have faith, it gets better. Getting better at actually assigning your own grades will make you a better shopper and will actually channel your purchases toward real, not assumed, value. This is when the value of your collection will begin to escalate, sometimes exponentially.
Be careful here – grading is a two edged sword. Just like high grades bring optimized value, low grades do what? – lower value! Note at card shows that most dealers have both graded and ungraded cards. The reason that all cards are not graded is that the dealer believes a grade on his ungraded cards would reduce the value. Dealers do find it cost prohibitive to grade everything at once but for the most part they’ve decided the card is not worth the investment. But once you become a skilled non-professional grader, ungraded merchandise can be a diamond in the rough and that adds value to your collection.
So the general rule on grading is, in my opinion, if you are a small, large or serious collector driven by the goal of increasing value, everything should be graded. If you like owning stuff of interest to you and are not driven by selling at a profit, then don’t waste your money on grading.
Grading takes time – What grading level should I choose?
This answer is from my own personal perspective. If you are like me, sending in a really nice, clean item that you feel will grade high, is exciting. I want to have it graded immediately (walk thru) at the additional cost. For other items, I chose the “Standard” grading level at a slightly lessor cost but still expensive in my view. I almost never use “Modern” because two-three months is too long to wait. At the end of three months I can’t even remember what I sent in! When your expectations are properly set, getting grades back can be like Christmas in July all year long!!!
Great Luck To You!