PSA, the card grading behemoth, has made another move in an effort to improve their already dominant market share by acquiring SGC in a deal late last week.
Collectors Holdings, which is the parent company of PSA, made the announcement official on Thursday February 29th, adding another 7% marketshare to PSA’s existing 78%.
“Our portfolio focuses on service providers that bring expertise, quality and value to hobbyists, and SGC has built a strong reputation on these three fronts,” said Collectors Holdings CEO Nat Turner. “We recognize that every collector has their own preferred authentication and grading provider, and we look forward to providing expertise that will continue to enhance SGC’s customer offering.”
Already under the CH brand are PSA, PCGS, WATA Games, Card Ladder, Goldin, and the Long Beach Expo. Adding SGC to their portfolio only further strengthens the company’s place as the industry leader in the secondary marketplace for collectibles.
According to SGC, the company will continue to operate as a stand alone brand out of Boca Raton, FL with most of the existing management remaining in their current roles.
“SGC will remain an independent grading brand,” said SGC President Peter Steinberg. “And no changes are contemplated. Joining forces with the Collectors team will allow SGC to double down on our strengths while greatly enhancing our capabilities to innovate and modernize our offerings moving forward.”
“This is all about our customers, and we are excited to take this major step forward as we continue to improve SGC’s products and services that collectors have come to love,” Steinberg continued. “We can’t imagine a more like-minded partner than Collectors to help innovate SGC’s overall offering as a trusted brand and authority in the collectibles industry.”
According to industry tracker Gem Rate, PSA graded 13.5M trading cards in 2023, while SGC came in 3rd behind CGC with 1.2M cards. In an effort to modernize their approach, SGC recently created a $15 service which would turn around cards in 5-10 business days.
Given the extensive backlog of cards still waiting to be graded by PSA, it’s widely assumed that Collectors Holdings will attempt to redirect some of its resources to more evenly distribute submissions between the two companies. While PSA will remain the gold standard for the collectibles industry for the time being, allowing collectors to have quicker turn around times has long been on the companies radar as evidenced by their additional openings of offices in Japan and New Jersey in recent years.
Photo: Bowman. This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1929 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed.