SGC’s grading volume rapidly declined for the second consecutive month in September following news the company would be scaled down into a “boutique” grader.
According to research from third-party grading tracker GemRate, SGC graded roughly 60,000 cards in September for its lowest total since July 2022 and a 49% decrease month-over-month. SGC graded roughly 118,000 cards in August, which was a 23% decrease from July.
SGC’s decline in volume closely follows the resignation of president Peter Steinberg on July 24 and new operational plans for the company.
PSA president Ryan Hoge, who now oversees both SGC and PSA grading operations — PSA parent company Collectors acquired SGC in February 2024 — said the goal is to scale down the brand to its pre-COVID grading volume.
“We decided we want to right-size it. Shrink it a little bit, have it go back to the pre-insanity of the COVID spike levels,” Hoge told Rob DeMay on the NEO Cards and Comics YouTube channel. “Maybe back to the 2017, 2018, 2019 levels of SGC and position it more as kind of a boutique grading brand that’s still there to serve customers for both modern and vintage.”
According to GemRate’s September grading recap, overall grading activity was down 4% compared to August but up 45% year-over-year. Of the four major authenticators, SGC was the only grader with a year-over-year decline in volume for September.
PSA graded 1.55 million cards to lead all graders in September, while CGC graded roughly 505,000 cards for a 15% increase from August and a 248% increase year-over-year.
TCG and non-sports grading continued to surge in September, with PSA grading 844,000 cards from the category compared to 714,000 sports cards. CGC graded more than 400,000 TCG and non-sports cards compared to 97,000 sports cards.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the collectibles editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.