Certified Collectibles Group, which is building its sports and non-sports trading card authentication and grading service under the Certified Sports Guaranty brand, has hired Westin Reeves to head up the modern card side of the new business. Reeves had been working in a similar grading role at Beckett.
As we reported earlier this week, he’ll join Andy Broome who will become CSG’s vintage card specialist. Like Broome, Reeves had most recently worked at Texas-based Beckett Grading, but is relocating to Florida for his new role with the Boca Raton-based company.
Certified Collectibles Group has a long history in other realms of collectible grading and authentication, most notably its comic book and coin divisions. Earlier this year, it announced plans to begin a trading card grading service. A launch date is expected to be announced soon, possibly as early as next month.
Together, Broome and Reeves offer nearly three decades of experience as professional graders.
Reeves has spent 20 years in the card hobby, including nearly seven years as a grader for Beckett. His primary area of expertise is modern sports cards (1980 and newer).
“When I saw that CCG — a company that has built the leading grading services for coins, banknotes, comics and other collectibles — was entering the sports card hobby, I knew I had to be involved,” he stated. “CSG will serve collectors and dealers with world-class expertise, the best technology, superior holders and incredible efficiency. I am very excited to be a part of this huge step forward for the hobby.”
Broome started grading sports cards professionally in 2000. Since then, he has graded millions of cards, including the the T206 Honus Wagner, T206 Doyle Nat’l variation and T206 Cobb Tobacco back. He’s well regarded in the area of pre-War cards and is a collector of both vintage Japanese baseball cards and vintage non-sports cards.
He was a consultant and contributor for the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s “Shoebox Treasures” baseball card exhibit.
“I pursued a career in sports card grading because third-party certification protects the hobby that I love from bias, altering and counterfeiting,” explains Broome. “I joined CSG because this company is best positioned to stay ahead of card doctors and meet the rapidly growing demand for third-party grading services.”
“We are thrilled that Andy and Westin have joined the CSG team,” says Steven R. Eichenbaum, CEO of CCG. “Just as with CCG’s other categories, CSG will revolutionize sports grading by combining our proven processes with innovation and world-class expertise.”
CSG is still hiring as it prepares to open for submissions in the coming months and is looking for employees in grading, receiving, verification, production and other areas.
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