CGC Celebrates 10 Million Collectibles Graded!

Certified Guaranty Company® (CGC®) is excited to announce it has surpassed another milestone: 10 million collectibles graded! To celebrate, CGC has special giveaways planned for fans on its social media channels. Follow CGC Comics on Instagram and TikTok, and CGC Trading Cards on Instagram and TikTok for a chance to win special prizes beginning Friday, April 29, and continuing through the weekend!

CGC revolutionized the comic book marketplace when it was founded in 2000 by providing clear, objective and impartial assessments of authenticity and grade. Today, CGC is the world's largest and most trusted third-party grading service for comics, trading cards, magazines, concert posters and related collectibles.

CGC employs a team of more than 45 professional graders. Multiple experts examine each collectible and assign a grade according to a well-established and internationally accepted standard. CGC’s state-of-the-art holders combines superior optics and advanced archival materials to provide the best in display and preservation.

CGC-certified comics selling for over $1 million

The comic market has been experiencing record growth of late, evidenced by multi-million-dollar sales, including a CGC 8.0 copy of Superman #1 that set a new record for any comic when it sold for $5.3 million in a January 2022 private sale. It was the first comic book devoted entirely to one superhero.

The sale shattered the record set just a few months earlier, when an Amazing Fantasy #15 graded CGC 9.6 sold for $3.6 million at a Heritage Auctions sale in September 2021. The book, which includes the origin of Spider-Man, still holds the record for highest price realized at auction.

Other impressive recent sales include two copies of Action Comics #1 (CGC 8.5 for $3.25 million and CGC 6.0 for $3.18 million), Captain America Comics #1 (CGC 9.4 for $3.12 million), Marvel Comics #1 (CGC 9.2 for $2.4 million) and Batman #1 (CGC 9.4 for $2.22 million). To see all of the comics that have already topped $1 million in 2022, click here.

Collectibles in general have seen a surge in value, with comic books particularly buoyed by their prominence in movies and television.

One million trading cards in 18 months

A significant portion of the 10 million collectibles certified were graded by CGC Trading Cards™, which achieved an important milestone of its own recently: 1 million graded trading cards in its first 18 months. This demonstrates how quickly collectors and dealers have embraced CGC Trading Cards’ expert authentication, grading and encapsulation services for TCGs.

Since launching in July 2020, CGC Trading Cards has certified many amazing cards. These include a Test Print Blastoise that was created in 1998 as Wizards of the Coast (WotC) prepared to create English Pokémon cards. Following certification by CGC Trading Cards, this rare card realized $360,000 at a Heritage Auctions sale in January 2021 — a record for an English Pokémon card.

In March 2022, a rare CGC-certified Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus Rare Alpha Edition was sold by Heritage Auctions for $52,800. The card was graded CGC 4.5, with sub-grades of 9 for Centering, 4 for Surface, 5 for Corners and 5 for Edges.

CGC Trading Cards recently announced the expansion of its certification services to 12 additional games, including Digimon (2020 – present), Dragon Ball Super, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem Cipher, Flesh and Blood, Force of Will, Harry Potter, MetaZoo, My Hero Academia, Weiss Schwarz, World of Warcraft and (to the delight of fans) Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Concert posters rock the collectibles market

Like comic books and trading cards, a lucrative collectibles market has developed around vintage concert posters. One recent example: A CGC-certified Grateful Dead concert poster from the iconic band’s show at San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom on Sept. 16-17, 1966, realized a record $137,500 in a Heritage Auctions sale in April 2022.

CGC employs a 10-point grading scale for concert posters that is based on the industry-standard the company established for other collectibles.

CGC has graded magazines since 2009

CGC also certifies magazines, including Sports Illustrated. An edition from October 1981 featuring Wayne Gretzky and graded CGC 9.4 sold for $30,000 in a recent sale.

Sports Illustrated was one of the first magazines for which CGC offered certification, grading and encapsulation when it launched the service in 2009.

CGC-certified lobby cards make the grade

CGC also offers expert grading and encapsulation for lobby cards, which were the most popular form of advertising displayed in movie theaters during much of the 20th century. These cards that were printed on heavy paper show images from the movie that were displayed in lobbies and meant to tease theaters goers, much as modern movie trailers do today.

In November 2021, a “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” lobby card graded CGC 9.2 sold at auction for $1,620.

A new player has entered the game

Coming later this year, CGC will extend its superior, expert grading services to video games with the launch of a new division: CGC Video Games.

The video game world has been expanding since the inception of video games in the days of early computing. By extension, this has led to the video game collecting hobby — a quest to document, protect and preserve the legacy of video games. When CGC Video Games launches in 2022, its expert and impartial grading services will advance this quest and continue the expansion and transformation of the video game world.

Connect with the CGC community

CGC continues to serve collectors worldwide by expanding its global network, providing exceptional expertise in authentication, grading and encapsulation. Fascinating collections of comics certified by CGC can be viewed in the CGC Galleries, including the CGC Gallery of Certified International Comic Books. To learn more about CGC's certification services for international comic books, click here.

The CGC Comics Registry is a free online community where collectors register and display their comics, interact with other collectors, and compete for awards and recognition. Participants can display their CGC-certified comics in pre-defined Competitive Sets, where they’ll receive a point value associated with scarcity, desirability and certified grade.

Collectors can also discuss their collections in the CGC Forum.

CGC also offers a free monthly eNewsletter so collectors can keep up with the latest news. To learn how to sign up, click here.

Preparing for 10 million more

To meet the demand for its expert certification services, CGC continues to expand its industry-leading team. To learn more about career opportunities at CGC, click here.