What Happened to Beckett Grading Services?
In September 2024, GemRate reported that Beckett Grading Services (BGS) graded only 65,000 cards in August 2024, a 13% decline year-over-year, continuing a troubling trend for the once mighty card grader. For reference, PSA, once the #2 to BGS, graded 1.4 million cards in August, a 13% increase, and more than 2,000% more than BGS.
In 2021 and 2022, as grading companies pulled out of the submission backlogs caused during the pandemic boom, PSA was investing in their business and CGC was getting started in the grading space while BGS was embroiled in various controversies. In 2019, the founder and then-chairman of the investment group was indicted for bribery, and has been convicted twice of that crime since 2020. At the same time, rumors swirled about a Black Label scandal at the company. In the shadows, SGC made significant improvements that allowed them to leapfrog BGS to #2 in sports cards.
Additionally, BGS's steadfast refusal to embrace the industry-standard Gem Mint 10 grade, and instead stick with their 9.5 and rarely giving a Pristine 10, seems to be turning away the younger, more investment-minded crowd that value the simple 10. PSA doesn't even have a 9.5, and SGC's Gem Mint is also 10. CGC has changed their scale to match SGC's. In 2023 BGS announced a new scale, but quickly rolled it back after hobby outrage. A full year after the fiasco, they announced that there would be no grading scale change. This flip-flopping has contributed to significant confusion with the company, and caused a growing disparity in the values between a BGS 9.5 and PSA 10.
So what did Beckett do with the $200 million in capital they received in 2022? Maybe we'll find out in 2025.
Mike runs the hobby YouTube channel Junk Wax Hero, where he talks about a lot of different aspects of the hobby from a collector’s perspective. His most popular series is Attic Find Friday. He also writes a free weekly hobby recap newsletter at junkwaxhero.com. It’s a cliche, but his favorite card is the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.