What The Latest GemRate Report Says About the State of the Hobby
Over the past 18 months we’ve seen a notable shift in the collecting landscape as more and more collectors have adopted Pokemon and other trading card games.
This was even more evident in GemRate’s March report which painted an interesting picture of the grading landscape. For those not familiar, each month GemRate publishes the number of cards graded by all the mainstream grading companies, including a breakdown of the various categories. These stats provide a high level glimpse into the sentiment of collectors and where they are placing their grading focus.
In a way, March’s report told a tale of two hobbies.
Statistically, all four of the largest grading companies saw year-over-year growth ranging from 4-34%. On one hand it’s clear that collectors still see the value of grading as well as the opportunity grading provides to maximize the value of their cards.
On the other hand, things took a different shape as you drill deeper into the data. Looking at sports cards specifically, three of the four primary grading companies actually saw a decline in the number of sports cards graded year-over-year. SGC posted one of their strongest months which begs the question of whether SGC is eating market share from some of the other companies or whether something else is going on across the industry.
One factor worth considering is how the growing demand for Pokemon and other trading card game (TCG) cards have impacted the overall grading landscape.
Unknown to most, PSA, the largest grading company, actually grades more TCG cards each month than basketball, football, and baseball cards combined. March not only saw PSA reach record grading numbers for TCG, but three of the top four grading companies witnessed 28-53% year-over-year growth for the TCG category.
This all begs the question of whether the continued rise of TCG submissions is simply a result of some of the latest Pokemon releases, or whether sports card collectors are actually shifting focus to include more non sports cards in their collections and inventory. Only time will tell, but if these trends suggest that we are seeing more collectors entering the hobby, then I’m all for it.
