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CGC Gem Mint 10 to PSA 10 Crossover: Same Centering, Very Different Prices

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A CGC 10 to PSA 10 crossover asks PSA to agree with a grade that, on paper, is built to the same standard: CGC’s Gem Mint 10 and PSA’s 10 both cap front centering at about 55/45 and back centering at 75/25. The reason collectors try it is price. On the vintage Charizards in our Goldin data, the PSA 10 sold for roughly five to seven times the CGC Gem Mint 10, while on two modern cards the CGC slab sold higher. How often PSA agrees is not published by either company; the population comparison below is Pokemon Pricing’s estimate, and it ranges from about one in five on Unlimited Charizard to all of the slice on four of the nine cards.

As of October 23, 2026: PSA bills its full grading fee on a crossover even when the minimum grade is missed, and the tier depends on the card’s value as graded. Old CGC labels reading Gem Mint 9.5 count as Gem Mint 10 on CGC’s current scale.

Which CGC 10 are we talking about?

CGC uses two 10 labels on new slabs. Its scale page defines the lower one by what it misses: “A Gem Mint 10 is a card that has received a 10 grade overall; however, one of the grading criteria does not meet the requirements of a Pristine 10.” The higher one, Pristine 10, requires 50/50 centering and has its own page: CGC Pristine 10 to PSA 10. A third, Perfect 10, is retired but still shows in the population counts.

Gem Mint 10 also covers older slabs. Before July 2023 the matching grade was printed as Gem Mint 9.5, and CGC’s merger announcement says “Cards previously graded Gem Mint 9.5 are exactly equivalent to Gem Mint 10 under the updated grading scale”. If your slab carries the old label, everything on this page applies to it; if it says Mint+ 9.5, read CGC 9.5 to PSA 10 instead.

Same 55/45 rule, different eyes

Line the two definitions up and centering drops out of the question. CGC: “Centering is not to exceed approximately 55/45, and reverse centering is not to exceed 75/25.” PSA: “The image must be centered on the card within a tolerance not to exceed approximately 55/45 percent on the front, and 75/25 percent on the reverse.” A card CGC called a 10 has already passed PSA’s centering gate, give or take each grader’s measuring.

What is left is judgement on corners, edges and surface. CGC says a Gem Mint 10’s corners look perfect without magnification: “Corners will appear perfect to the naked eye and Mint+ under 10x magnification.” PSA’s 10 allows one thing CGC’s wording does not mention, a slight printing imperfection that does not hurt eye appeal, and forbids staining of any kind. Neither standard is clearly stricter. The flaws that split two graders tend to be the small ones: a faint surface scratch that shows only at an angle, or a touch of edge wear on a dark-bordered back.

What the CGC Gem Mint 10 to PSA 10 sale pairs show

All prices below are Goldin results including the buyer’s premium (22%, $19 minimum, per Goldin’s fee page). Each row pairs single sales, sometimes weeks apart; treat them as examples of the gap, not as a market rate.

Card Auction end dates (CGC; PSA) CGC Gem Mint 10 PSA 10 Higher price
Base Set Unlimited Charizard 8/09/26 and 2/15/26; 3/08/26 $5,616 and $4,964 $34,770 PSA, roughly six to seven times
Shadowless Charizard 3/01/25; 2/22/25 $9,157 $55,293 PSA, roughly six times
1st Edition Charizard both CGC 2/15/26; 3/08/26 $105,400 and $93,000 $518,500 PSA, roughly five times
Van Gogh promo Pikachu #085 same Goldin auction, 8/03/26 $1,586 $3,050 PSA, roughly double
Umbreon VMAX 215 alt art 8/21/25; 8/02/25 $3,050 $2,684 CGC, by $366
151 Charizard ex SIR 199 2/08/26; 2/15/26 $1,476 $1,178 CGC, by $298

The vintage pattern is consistent across three Charizard variants: a CGC Gem Mint 10 sold for a fraction of a PSA 10. The modern rows are mixed, and two of them run the other way. That alone answers part of the crossover question: on a card where the CGC 10 already sells as well as a PSA 10, a successful crossover buys nothing but a different label. Our CGC vs PSA price difference guide covers more grades, and how PSA 10 prices pull away from lower grades when the market runs hot looks at the same gap over time.

CGC’s own marketing points the other way on one sale: it reported that a Shadowless Charizard in a CGC Gem Mint 10 holder “realized an incredible $37,700 on July 23” (2023), after the relabel. That is CGC’s framing of one result, not a price study.

Population odds: where CGC Gem Mint 10s rank on PSA’s scale

The method: rank each card’s CGC numeric slabs from the top. Perfect and Pristine 10s take the very top; Gem Mint 10s are the next slice down. Then ask how much of that Gem Mint slice falls inside the share of PSA’s numeric slabs that are 10s. CGC figures are from its report on October 23, 2026; PSA figures are from archived PSA pages dated April 2025 to March 2026.

Card CGC Gem Mint 10s Share graded above Gem Mint 10 Share at Gem Mint 10 or better PSA 10 share Gem Mint slice inside PSA 10 share
Charizard, 1999 Unlimited 285 0.1% 2.0% 0.5% 22.8%
Mewtwo, 1999 Unlimited 166 0.1% 2.4% 2.6% all of it
Blastoise, 1999 1st Edition 24 0.4% 4.7% 2.8% 56.6%
Venusaur, 1999 1st Edition 30 0.2% 6.1% 4.4% 71.9%
Charizard, 1996 Japanese Base 118 0.6% 4.3% 6.0% all of it
Charizard ex 199, 151 1,906 3.8% 34.5% 32.9% 94.8%
Grey Felt Hat Pikachu 085 3,176 10.7% 53.4% 44.9% 80.1%
Umbreon VMAX 215, Evolving Skies 1,286 14.6% 55.9% 72.5% all of it
Umbreon VMAX 095, Eevee Heroes 96 32.6% 72.3% 87.0% all of it

Unlimited Charizard is the hard case. CGC has 297 slabs at 10 of any kind among 14,779 numerically graded copies, while PSA’s 10s were 487 of 93,488 in its March 2026 snapshot. PSA’s top slice is about a quarter as wide as CGC’s, so only the upper 22.8% of the Gem Mint 10 slice ranks with PSA 10s; the rest ranks with PSA 9s. The two 1st Edition holos sit in between (56.6% for Blastoise). On Mewtwo, the Japanese Charizard and both Umbreons, PSA’s 10 share is the wider one, and every CGC Gem Mint 10 ranks inside it.

Estimate: how many CGC Gem Mint 10s would line up with PSA 10s

Our estimate, labelled as one: on a 1999 Unlimited Charizard, about one in five CGC Gem Mint 10s would line up with a PSA 10 by population rank; on the 1st Edition holos, roughly half to three-quarters; on the Van Gogh Pikachu, about four in five; on the other modern cards and the Japanese Charizard, essentially all. Those numbers are the table above, unadjusted. What they leave out:

  • Population rank is not a grade. It cannot see your card.
  • PSA and CGC receive different mixes of cards. On vintage Charizard in particular, many owners send their best copies to PSA, which would make PSA’s 10 share look thin against CGC’s without either grader being harsher.
  • Crossover submitters pre-screen. The CGC 10s sent to PSA are the ones their owners think are strong, which helps.
  • Counts move. PSA’s figures are 7 to 18 months older than CGC’s.

The fee side of a CGC 10 to PSA 10 attempt

Every PSA crossover form needs a minimum grade. At a minimum of 10, a card PSA grades 9 is not cracked: “If your item doesn’t meet the minimum grade, it is returned to you in the original holder.” The fee is charged anyway. The tier is set by value, and PSA’s FAQ says it will move an item up if the graded value exceeds the tier’s Max Insured Value. For a high-end Charizard that means the Premium tiers. The top one is priced by formula: “Premium 10 pricing starts at $9,999 for any item with Max Insured Value of $350,000 or less, and increases by $399 for each $10,000 (or fraction thereof) of Max Insured Value over $350,000.”

Our worked examples price each card at its PSA 10 sale and take the CGC 10 sale as what you keep if PSA says no. Break-even is the fee divided by the gap. They leave out shipping, insurance and selling costs, and each rests on one pair of sales.

Card Gap (PSA 10 minus CGC 10) PSA tier at the PSA 10 value Fee Break-even chance Population estimate
Unlimited Charizard $29,154 Premium 2 (up to $50,000) $1,999.00 6.9% 22.8%
Shadowless Charizard $46,136 Premium 3 (up to $100,000) $2,999.00 6.5% no counts collected
1st Edition Charizard $413,100 Premium 10 (17 steps of $10,000 over $350,000) $16,782 4.1% no counts collected
Van Gogh promo Pikachu $1,464 Super Express (up to $5,000) $349.00 23.8% 80.1%

The 1st Edition fee is our arithmetic on PSA’s formula: $518,500 is 16.85 steps of $10,000 above $350,000, which PSA rounds up to 17, so $9,999 plus 17 times $399. On the Charizards, the gap is so wide that a few percent success pays the fee; on the Pikachu, the attempt needs to work almost one time in four. For the Umbreon and the 151 Charizard ex, there is no positive gap in the sales we have, so no break-even exists.

For the price history behind the Unlimited row, see our Base Set Unlimited Charizard price page. If the real comparison is a CGC 10 against a PSA 9, that is a separate question with its own sale pairs: CGC 10 vs PSA 9 price. The full set of grade pairs is on the crossover grading hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a CGC Gem Mint 10 the same as a PSA 10?

On centering they match, with the same 55/45 front and 75/25 back ceilings. Corners, edges and surface are judged by different graders, and sale prices for the two slabs differ a lot on vintage cards.

Does a CGC 10 usually cross to a PSA 10?

No grading company publishes the rate. Our population comparison suggests about one in five on Base Set Unlimited Charizard and nearly all on several modern cards, before accounting for the fact that crossover submitters pre-screen.

Why does a PSA 10 sell for more than a CGC 10?

On vintage Charizards in our Goldin data the PSA 10 sold for five to seven times as much. No grader or auction house publishes a reason. On Unlimited Charizard, PSA 10s are a much thinner slice of PSA’s population than CGC 10s are of CGC’s. On two modern cards the CGC 10 sold higher.

Is an old CGC Gem Mint 9.5 a 10?

Yes, by CGC rules. Since July 2023 CGC treats a Gem Mint 9.5 from its old scale as exactly equivalent to today’s Gem Mint 10.

What does it cost to cross a CGC 10 Charizard to PSA?

PSA charges the grading fee for the tier that covers the card’s value, whether or not it crosses. For a card worth about $34,770 as a PSA 10 that is Premium 2 at $1,999.00, per PSA’s list read October 23, 2026.

If PSA gives my CGC 10 a 9, do I get a PSA 9 slab?

Only if your minimum grade was 9 or lower. With a minimum of 10 the card stays in its CGC holder and PSA keeps the fee.

Sources

No grading company publishes crossover pass rates. Any crossover odds on this page are Pokemon Pricing’s estimate, labelled as one, built from the published grading standards and population reports on the dates shown. Fees, populations and sale prices change; check the grading company’s current price list before submitting. This article is collector information, not investment advice. Pokémon and all card names are trademarks of Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK inc.; Pokemon Pricing is not affiliated with them or with any grading company.

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