This guide is not intended to inform the reader about the differences between these two mega-graders.

As both a collector, a buyer, and a seller, I have noticed an increasing trend in products coming from each company.  As a begin collecting graded cards, BGS, or Beckett Grading Services, was the top dog.  PSA, though one of the founding fathers of sports memorabilia grading and authentication, was 2nd, 3rd, or perhaps even 4th in line in terms of quality of the grade.

In other words, until recently, a pretty general cross-over grading pattern existed.  If you crossed a PSA 10 sports card over to BGS, you would end up with a BGS 9.5, generally without any 10 sub-grades.

Now, however, I have seen the quality of the BGS cards start to slip a little.  In fact, I am more satisfied with the quality of PSA 10's as of late, and I expect the ratio of card quality to assigned grade to continue to grow with the addition of PSA's new grading system, which incorporates half-grades now. 

In my opinion, buy your PSA 10's now, if things continue they way they appear to be continuing, you could easily see your PSA 10's be valued like a BGS 10 - which has a significant price value increase over the BGS 9.5's - one day very soon.