Despite a short month, the four major authentication and grading companies processed a record 1.93 million trading cards in February.
That broke the combined record of 1.87 million set in October of last year, according to GemRate, which tracks grading activity.
PSA graded 1.44 million cards in all, 678,000 of which were sports cards. SGC graded 146,000 cards (142,000 sports). CGC graded 287,000 cards (42,000 sports–up 232% from February of last year) and Beckett 53,000 cards (23,000 sports).
Nearly 65% of the sports card grading activity at PSA was for cards issued within the last five years. Over 44% of those cards were awarded Gem Mint 10 grades. At CGC, nearly 84% of the sports grading volume was for cards issued this decade.
Other nuggets from the report:
- The athletes whose cards were graded most often at PSA last month were Michael Jordan (19,200), Shohei Ohtani (18,500), Victor Wembanyama (17,000), Paul Skenes (15,900) and Caitlin Clark (14,800). Notably, PSA also graded 14,200 cards of Jayden Daniels—up 59% from January. Daniels was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year just prior to Super Bowl LIX.
- PSA graded 3,800 copies of the Panini Instant card commemorating Clark’s selection as the WNBA Rookie of the Year, more than any other sports card it examined in February. A 2024 Bowman U NOW card of Duke freshman sensation Cooper Flagg was second on the list with about 1,500 of them passing through PSA’s grading rooms.
- SGC graded 4,700 Daniels cards—up 142% from January. Jordan, Ohtani, Nolan Ryan and Bo Nix cards rounded out the company’s top 5 most graded players.
- SGC graded over 400 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson rookie cards last month, a 55% increase from January, likely thanks to a special grading offer for 1970s and 80s cards. The company also graded about 1,300 cards each of Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle.
- Beckett’s top five cards in February were all on-demand Shohei Ohtani issues, led by the 2024 Topps NOW #722. Beckett graded 467 of them.
- Football card grading was up 47% at CGC, with about 24,500 of them passing through the company’s Florida offices.
- GemRate cited an exploding market for Pokemon cards as driving a great deal of business, especially at PSA and CGC. PSA saw more Pokemon cards last month than ever before, including nearly 77,000 copies of one card issued last year.
