It’s no secret that SGC has slowed a bit recently. Even prior to the announced sale to Collectors, SGC was in a slight backlog. Their explanation is that holiday traffic plus some modern specials caused a slowdown from the advertised 5-to-10 business day turnaround time. If you collect SGC it is not necessarily “bad news” that they are busy–but I’m sure all customers would appreciate more transparency–why not call it 10-to-20 business day service if that’s what it is? This is a quick review of SGC Vintage Grading Services as of April 2024.

I usually submit to SGC through Boca Card Subs, especially if the value is below the $1,500 declared value threshold. They have a very clean process that offers a slight discount, super fast check-in, fast processing after grading, and a savings in return shipping costs. The submissions reviewed here were all through Boca, so timelines might vary sightly if submitting direct.

(Full disclosure: Boca Card Subs is a sponsor of Cardhound, and neither party received any fee for this brief article.)

Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly of my most recent subs.

What:

Multiple SGC grading submissions of rare Cuban cards, featuring many Negro League players. I’m trying to build the 1926-27 Aguilitas set, and finding these cards is a labor of love. I’m writing in part just to share the pictures of some unique cards! Enjoy.

Turn time:

My last 2 submissions have taken 17 and 15 business days respectively, from check-in to return shipping.

The Good:

Spoiler alert: It’s all good, really. The cards graded about where I though they would–which in this case is pretty low. Most Cuban cards have been removed from albums and show some evidence of that. Check-in was fast, and the timeline was exactly what I guessed via checking out other recently returned orders on the Boca web site. The cards generally look great in the slabs, and I’m happy to add them to the set and the PC. Here are a few of my favorite cards from the submissions:

The Bad: 

My only tiny complaint with these cards, which are encapsulated in tiny plastic sleeves, is that sometimes they are crooked in the display area (as seen above). They can usually be tapped back into place.

The Ugly:

There’s one potential error in these submissions. They declared my 1945 Mexican League card of Rafael Pedrozo to be a COU / Counterfeit. I really don’t think that it is. It is a very rare set with only a few player cards even graded. They recently graded a manager card, and those cards are larger than the player cards. The printing is definitely vintage offset printing, and the paper seems correct. The card came out of an original album. In my opinion, they just missed on this one–though a reader should feel free to prove me wrong. I have admittedly only seen a few of these.

Conclusion: 

Much uncertainty remains in terms of SGC’s future post-acquisition. But for now they the my only choice for my personal collection, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they work through the recent backlog challenge. I’m also anticipating some fun future announcements (set registry, anyone?) now that they have the resources to finally close that gap.

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