I posted about this in the grading sub, but just wanted to show this beauty off in-hand finally and the full story!
I owned a BGS 9 I bought back in 2023. I bought it for 2k and I specifically got this one because the subgrades were borderline gem mint by BGS standards (two 9’s, two 9.5’s). I had a very strong feeling that it was closer to being Gem Mint than Mint, as it looked like it qualified in my eyes. I actually cracked it some months after while keeping it in its enclosed BGS penny sleeve. I didn’t know much about grading and was mostly a binder guy, so I kept it safe in a toploader binder
So after spending about 2-3 years in my binder, I decided it was time to start thinking about selling it in the future just in case or at least keeping the condition preserved best. I ended up going with CGC since I really liked their grading system and service.
I spent a lot of time over the years figuring out how grading works and what are the typical flaws each condition tolerates. Based on my learning, I felt my copy had a strong chance at Gem Mint.
So I finally got the balls to send it in last week via express to CGC, and the amount of hype and excitement I had for the last couple days after seeing my personal BGS 9 Mew that I believed to have more potential to then be validated as a strong gem mint copy. Been riding that high for a bit lol
I’m just so happy that my first grading execution turned out to be right when it was during a time where I first started getting into collecting cards. combining all the gem mint 10’s between all the major grading companies, there’s still only around 100 gem mint copies in the world. My favorite pokemon of all time btw
A beautifully stressful journey, but so worth it and I’m glad that I trusted myself and kept moving forward
by tumboi69