Andy Broome wishes he could take credit for tracking down three of the most recognizable sports cards in the history of the industry all at once. But Broome, the vice president of trading card grading company Certified Collectibles Group (CGC), could only claim coincidence when the most famous cards for Mickey Mantle, Wayne Gretzky and Honus Wagner came through the door.After being graded, he couldn’t understate the importance of the cards for the perception of the company. The results:
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Type 1, CGC 8 grade
1979-80 Topps Wayne Gretzky autographed card, CGC 10 card/auto grade
1909-11 T206 Sweet Caporal Honus Wagner, CGC authentic-restored grade
All three cards will be displayed at the CGC booth during this year’s four-day Fanatics Fest held at the Javits Center in New York starting Thursday. And all three cards point to a significant sign where CGC, the largest grading company not owned by Collectors Holdings (PSA, SGC, Beckett), might be breaking through hobby perception barriers of the grading company.Those perceptions? One is that a card graded by Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) carries a higher value than a CGC-graded card. The other is that CGC isn’t the place to send in vintage sports cards for grading.
