THE STORY OF CGC GRADED MAGS

I have been a collector for most of my life. From coins to beer cans to baseball cards and various other types of sports memorabilia. I know everything is relative but in the last 1/2 dozen years assembling a vintage high-grade sports card collection has become all but unattainable for the “regular” guy. So I pick my spots and look for things I believe are undervalued. With that as a backdrop March of 2023 a buddy of mine texted me an eBay link to a 1951 Baseball Magazine of Mickey Mantle. It was a decent raw example and ended up selling for a couple hundred bucks. Frankly, it blew me away. I understand supply and demand but how could an aesthetically pleasing iconic image of Mickey Mantle on a period piece sell for so little money? That got me thinking. As a collector, I know that investment-grade collectibles need to be authenticated and preferably graded. A quick search confirmed that GCG was the sole company that provided this service. So then I dug into CGC grading. In my opinion, they did a great job applying the time and market-tested Overstreet comic grading criterion to magazines. I expected once I peeled back more layers, I would find that while graded vintage magazines were new to me the market would already be mature. It was not. While there was a growing niche market grading Sports Illustrated, the number of Vintage Sports magazines, other than Sports Illustrated, was relatively untapped. For example: most 1950’s magazines featuring Mickey Mantle covers (e.g. Sport, Dell, Street & Smith, etc.) only had between 8 and 12 examples graded. That is all I need to hear. I put in place my plan:

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• I purchased an Overstreet book and some sample CGC-graded books to familiarize myself with the CGC grading process.

• Acquired archival cleaning supplies, humidifier, and clamshell press, watched some videos, and learned how to press magazines.

• I attacked eBay, reached out to collectors, and started acquiring raw high-grade vintage magazines. My focus was on HOF and preferably iconic HOF player images on the cover.

• After starting with baseball, I expanded quickly to other sports.

• I set up an account with CGC and began submitting.

 

Given my focus on magazines that are 50+ years old, I quickly learned that thin cover stock, tight bindings with staples, and pulp paper made it difficult to find high-grade examples. That all being said I am tenacious! In less than 6 months I had acquired, pressed, and submitted 300+ vintage magazines. I learned some lessons: asking sellers to provide images of the bindings (the biggest grading culprit) and taking my time surface cleaning and pressing (which is time-consuming) to maximize the grades. After all of that, I was able to assemble a high-grade, diverse inventory of vintage magazines. I continue to buy high-grade ungraded magazines anytime I can and will continue to add to my inventory.

 

Enjoy the site and please reach out if you have any questions.