Sell or hold? The CGC dilemma
- Mark Potash
- May 22, 2025
- 3 min read
To-sell-or-not generally isn't a critical decision with vintage collectibles. With a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle or a 1968 Topps wax pack, you almost certainly cannot lose. You either take your profit today or hold it and take a bigger profit tomorrow.
Not so with graded magazines. While still a ground-floor collectibles hobby, CGC-graded magazines have commanded some high-end, eyebrow-raising prices usually reserved for more mainstream, established collectibles — $126,000 for Michael Jordan's "A Star Is Born" cover (1984); $60,000 for Wilt Chamberlain's first cover (1961); $32,400 for a 1964 Sandy Koufax cover; $30,000 for a Wayne Gretzky first cover (1981); $27,600 for a Mickey Mantle first cover (1956).
Yet, it's still a fledgling hobby that is far from a mainstream collectible. There's a lot of room for massive growth, but also room for volatility and decline. The graded magazine market is just a toddler, and nobody knows if it will grow up to become Mickey Mantle, Mark McGwire ... or Jose Canseco.
So when it comes to sell-or-hold, PSA's imminent entrance in magazine grading — reportedly sometime in 2025 — only complicates matters for some collectors/investors. In theory, PSA can only enhance the hobby — bringing much-needed competition for CGC and, more importantly, legitimizing graded magazines as a collectible and exposing it to the huge population of graded-card collectors.
But with the graded magazine hobby is such a developmental stage, it's still created a quandary for some collectors on two main fronts — 1) there's a lull in the hobby, presumably as collectors await the introduction of PSA; and 2) population counts of many valuable graded magazines are increasing as more and more collectors have magazines graded by CGC.
Recent sales at Goldin Auctions — currently the most popular auction house for graded magazines — illustrated the downturn.
A Dec. 17, 1990 newsstand issue of Sports Illustrated with Michael Jordan on the cover ("Another Bull Run") graded 9.8 by CGC (pop 2, none higher) sold for $12,200 in December of 2024. Two months later, another 9.8 version of that issue (pop 3, none higher) sold for $4,575.
A May 21, 1990 newsstand issue of Sports Illustrated with Jordan on the cover ("Show Time") graded 9.6 by CGC (pop 5, two higher) sold for $6,222 in August of 2024. In March, another 9.6 graded issue of that magazine (pop 6, two higher) sold for $1,464.
A May 11, 1992 newsstand issue of Sports Illustrated with Jordan (and Clyde Drexler) on the cover ("Collision Course") graded 9.8 by CGC (pop 3, none higher) bsold for $6,100 last September. In February of 2025, another 9.8 newsstand copy of that issue (with the same pop count) sold for $4,270.
So for collectors/investors with higher-end issues have a tough decision (if they haven't already missed the boat) — sell or hold? At this point, it appears the only choice is to wait and see if PSA's entry into the graded-magazine market raises all boats. But that best-case scenario likely will take awhile. What would you do?