Latest Press Releases
AGS GRADED CARDS INCLUDED IN SHOP-AT-HOME BLUE CHIP PACKAGES
FINDLAY, Ohio, -- Thousands of Advanced Grading Specialists, Inc. graded sports
cards are now being included in Blue Chip packages marketed on Shop-At-Home.
Blue Chip Sports is a division of Howard Sports Collectible and sold at Shop-At-Home.
Richard Howard, president of Howard Sports Collectibles, said customer reaction to the AGS
cards has been very positive. Customers particularly like the exclusive Top-View Holders.
Several AGS graded cards are included in each Blue Chip offering.
The Blue Chip package has been offered on Shop-At-Home for about three years. The offering
is changed each week, but Mr. Howard says a typical package includes an assortment of sports
cards, hall of fame autographs, factory official sets, rare insert cards, super star cards, and
rookie cards. The value is usually nearly $400 and it usually retails on the TV retail outlet for
$100 or less.
Advanced Grading Specialists has been grading sports cards since May. It has already graded
over 500,000 cards and is currently grading over 7,500 per week.
Each AGS grader has from 10 to 25 years experience and the company has quickly gained a
nationwide reputation for its consistent, accurate grading and fast turnaround times.
Each AGS graded card is encapsulated in an exclusive AGS Top-View Holder which is acid
free, scratch resistant, and impervious to ultraviolet light, air, and water.
Recent News
AGS GRADED CARDS INCLUDED IN FAIRFIELD’S TARGET STORE PACKAGE
FINDLAY, Ohio -- Advanced Grading Specialists, Inc., graded cards were
featured in packages assembled by the Fairfield Company and marketed nationwide in
three chains.
Steve Juskewycz, president of Fairfield, said 10,000 packages containing AGS graded cards were shipped to Target Stores, ShopKo, and Fred Meyer Stores for the Christmas season.
Each package contained an encapsulated sports card graded 9 or above. Three packages contained a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr., 10.0 and 13 contained a 1992 Stadium Club Brett Favre, 10.0.
Each AGS graded card is encapsulated in an exclusive AGS Top-View Holder which is acid free, scratch resistant and impervious to ultraviolet light, air, and water.
AGS began grading cards in July and has already graded over 100,000 sports cards. AGS graders all have from 10 to 25 years experience and have rapidly gained a solid
reputation in the industry for consistent, accurate grading of cards.
Recent News
AGS SEEKS EXPERIENCED SPORTS CARD GRADER
FINDLAY, Ohio -- Advanced Grading Specialists has an opening for an experienced sports card grader. Applicants should be able to demonstrate experience in providing consistent, accurate grading abilities.
Send resume to:
Advanced Grading Specialists, Inc.
P. O. Box 299
Findlay, Ohio, 45839
Recent News
CARD GRADING GROWS IN IMPORTANCE FOR COLLECTORS
FINDLAY, Ohio -- No doubt, sports cards have been graded ever since cards first appeared as a premium in a
package of gum or candy generations ago.
Today, sports card grading companies, like Advanced Grading Specialists, Inc., provide
collectors with consistent, accurate evaluations of their collectible sports cards. These
companies provide buyers and sellers with independent, third-party opinions of the condition,
authenticity and originality of sports cards.
Bob Regoli, Ph.D., University of Colorado, has done one of the most definitive assessments of
Sports Card Certification Companies, and he traces the history of sports cards back to the late
1800s when tobacco companies distributed humorous baseball cards in packs of cigarettes.
But to most collectors, those cards offered as premiums in gum or candy packs in the 40s and
50s marked the real beginning. Early collectors, as Dr. Regoli points out, were most often
interested in collecting sets of cards.
Today, four companies each manufacture more than one set of cards annually. In fact, in
2000, nearly 350 different baseball card sets were available to collectors, so modern collectors
are more likely to collect single cards and are more concerned with the condition of their cards
than earlier hobbyists.
This preoccupation of collectors with card condition is a relatively recent phenomenon. The
first attempt to establish a set of standards for sports card grading, Dr. Regoli reports, can be
traced to James Beckett who in his 1984 Beckett’s Baseball Card Monthly provided a
“condition guide.”
However, unlike other collectible hobbies, such as coin collecting, there is no formal
organization that imposes a uniform set of standards for collectors of sports cards.
Grading companies began to offer not only grading services, but also encapsulation services.
These rigid plastic containers protect and preserve the condition of the cards.
Recent growth of the grading industry has been phenomenal. As recently as three years ago,
the leading grading service graded perhaps 10,000 cards per month. Today, by some industry
estimates, that same company grades about 300,000 per month.
Where just a few years ago only three companies offered grading services, up to 20
companies may be providing the service today. These companies may, in total, be grading up
to a half-million cards per month.
Evidence indicates that the ability of the grader, rather than the longevity of the company,
determines the quality of the final product.
In fact, Dr. Regoli’s study notes, “Our principal conclusion is that the certification companies
grade cards similarly.”
He further states, “The data speaks for itself, stating rather strongly that the informal ranking of
certification companies that now exists (among collectors) is not grounded in performance
differences among them.”
Graders all look at certain factors, although the weight each grader gives each factor can be
subjective.
Graders first look at the actual measurement of the card. If the card “doesn’t measure” it
means it could have been trimmed to correct a deficiency. A grader also checks to see if the
card has been “enhanced” or retouched. Matters of centering, both on the front and back of
the card, are important. The surface condition of the card is checked for dents, stains, bent
edges, etc. The grader also judges the quality of the printing of the picture of the card.
Obviously the grader seeks to detect any counterfeits.
All grading companies encapsulate their cards preserving the quality of the card as it was
graded. At Advanced Grading Specialists, for example, card holders are acid free, scratch
resistant, and they are impervious to light, air, and water. A special Top-View feature of the
AGS cards enables collectors to find individual cards stacked in storage boxes.
Does grading add value to cards? Most collectors believe it does.
The most extreme example was the recent sale of the very first graded card, a PSA T206
Honus Wagner, graded 10, which sold for $1.26 million on an e-Bay auction.
Obviously not all graded cards bring million dollar price tags, but grading companies have
brought some parity to the natural economic conflicts which occur between buyers and sellers.
As Dr. Regoli reports, “Sellers usually see fewer and less serious flaws on cards than buyers.”
For the collector who may not be interested in frequent trading, grading offers one way to help
determine value.
For more information about Advanced Grading Services, visit its web site at
www.advancedgrading.com or call toll-free 1-877-943-7401.
Recent News
AGS CARDS MEET HIGH BOOK PRICES
FINDLAY, Ohio -- Recent trading on national television’s Shop At Home program of three Advanced Grading Specialists graded cards have vindicated the public’s confidence in the new firm’s products.
A 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr., Rookie (AGS-10) sold for $3,000. A 1986 Fleer Update Barry Bonds Rookie (AGS-10) sold for $2,500. Both prices were the high book value listed in Beckett’s Sports Collectibles.
Another impressive sale was a 1989 Donruss Baseball’s Best Sosa Rookie (AGS-10) for $1,800.
AGS graded cards have been moving at very representative prices on e-Bay as well as on Shop At Home and at shows. A sample of recent e-Bay trades include:
1998 E-X Century Manning (AGS-10) sold for $127.50.
1997 Pinnacle Inside Cheryl Swoopes (AGS-10) sold for $209.47.
1998 Bowman’s Best Refractor Peyton Manning (AGS-10) sold for $202.50.
1987 Topps Tiffany Barry Bonds (AGS-10) sold for $122.49.
1996 Bowman’s Best Kobe Bryant (AGS-10) sold for $148.49.
Advanced Grading Specialists has a staff of full-time graders with from 10 to 25 years in the field. Customers have rapidly discovered that AGS provides consistent, accurate grading of cards.
AGS also offers exclusive Top-View holders. This enables collectors to find individual cards stacked in boxes without removing them from the storage box. These holders are acid free, scratch resistant, and impervious to ultraviolet light, air and water.
ADVANCED GRADING SPECIALISTS ADDS TWO QUALITY DISTRIBUTORS
FINDLAY, Ohio, -- Advanced Grading Specialists, Inc., a rapidly growing new
player in the sports card grading business, has added two quality dealers in Ohio.
The new distributors are Abon Cards and Coins, Ltd., of Mansfield and Ohio Coin &
Investments in Springfield. Both are large dealers each with over 20 years of
experience.
Advanced Grading Specialists was formed earlier this year by a group of Findlay
investors. It has already graded over 50,000 cards. Its staff of full-time graders have
from 10 to 25 years experience in grading sports cards and customers have already
discovered the company provides consistent, accurate grading.
AGS also offers exclusive Top-View holders. This enables collectors to find individual
cards stacked in boxes without removing them from the storage box. These holders are
acid free, scratch resistant, and impervious to ultraviolet light, air, and water.
Larry Bence is the owner and president of Abon Cards and Coins. He has been
supplying retail stores with collectible cards and coins for over 20 years. His firm is a
major user of eBay and his 100,000 square-foot warehouse provides ample space for
his online business inventory. Abon has a staff of 22 persons.
Barry Brooks started Ohio Coin & Investments in 1965 and added sports cards in 1971.
Ohio Coin is one of the largest wholesale suppliers of sports cards and supplies in the
United States and internationally. He has 20 employees and over 100,000 square feet
of storage and sales space.
The master distributor for AGS is Richard Howard, Inc. Any person wishing to have
cards graded must send their cards to a distributor. No cards go directly to AGS at this
time. A complete list of distributors is located on the AGS web site at
www.advancedgrading.com.
The new distributors may be contacted at:
Abon Cards and Coins, Ltd.
115 Park Avenue, West
Mansfield, OH 44902
call toll-free: 800-545-4951
Ohio Coin & Investments
1628 E. Main Street
Springfield, OH 45503
call toll-free: 800-592-3220
AGS GRADED CARDS INCLUDED IN SHOP-AT-HOME BLUE CHIP PACKAGES
FINDLAY, Ohio --Thousands of Advanced Grading Specialists, Inc. graded sports
cards are now being included in Blue Chip packages marketed on Shop-At-Home.
Blue Chip Sports is a division of Howard Sports Collectible and sold at Shop-At-Home.
Richard Howard, president of Howard Sports Collectibles, said customer reaction to the AGS
cards has been very positive. Customers particularly like the exclusive Top-View Holders.
Several AGS graded cards are included in each Blue Chip offering.
The Blue Chip package has been offered on Shop-At-Home for about three years. The offering
is changed each week, but Mr. Howard says a typical package includes an assortment of sports
cards, hall of fame autographs, factory official sets, rare insert cards, super star cards, and
rookie cards. The value is usually nearly $400 and it usually retails on the TV retail outlet for
$100 or less.
Advanced Grading Specialists has been grading sports cards since May. It has already graded
over 500,000 cards and is currently grading over 7,500 per week.
Each AGS grader has from 10 to 25 years experience and the company has quickly gained a
nationwide reputation for its consistent, accurate grading and fast turnaround times.
Each AGS graded card is encapsulated in an exclusive AGS Top-View Holder which is acid
free, scratch resistant, and impervious to ultraviolet light, air, and water.
