At the same grade, the CGC vs PSA price gap on Pokemon cards depends almost entirely on whether the card is vintage or modern. On three Base Set Charizards sold at Goldin, a CGC Gem Mint 10 brought between 14.3% and 20.3% of what a PSA 10 brought; on five modern cards the CGC 10 ranged from 39.6% of the PSA 10 price to 125.3% of it.
As of October 23, 2026: there is no published “PSA premium” figure from a grader or a reputable outlet, so this page does not quote one. Everything below is one Goldin sale against another, with the dates Goldin prints, and every price includes Goldin’s 22% buyer’s premium.
CGC vs PSA price: the eight same-grade pairs
The table lists every same-card, same-grade pair our price research found on Goldin lot pages, CGC first. The second column is our arithmetic: the CGC sale as a percentage of the PSA sale. Anything over a hundred percent means the CGC slab sold for more.
| Card | CGC as % of PSA | CGC slab sold | PSA slab sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Set Unlimited Charizard | 16.2% | $5,616 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 8/09/26 | $34,770 for a PSA 10, ended 3/08/26 |
| Base Set Unlimited Charizard | 14.3% | $4,964 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 2/15/26 | $34,770 for a PSA 10, ended 3/08/26 |
| 1st Edition Charizard | 20.3% | $105,400 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 2/15/26 | $518,500 for a PSA 10, ended 3/08/26 |
| 1st Edition Charizard | 17.9% | $93,000 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 2/15/26 | $518,500 for a PSA 10, ended 3/08/26 |
| 1st Edition Charizard, earlier pair | 19.7% | $38,430 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 12/20/23 | $195,200 for a PSA 10, ended 2/17/24 |
| Shadowless Charizard | 16.6% | $9,157 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 3/01/25 | $55,293 for a PSA 10, ended 2/22/25 |
| Shadowless Charizard | 52.6% | $2,566 for a CGC Mint 9, ended 6/15/24 | $4,880 for a PSA 9, ended 7/14/24 |
| Evolving Skies Umbreon VMAX #215 | 113.6% | $3,050 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 8/21/25 | $2,684 for a PSA 10, ended 8/02/25 |
| Obsidian Flames Charizard ex #223 | 50.0% | $610 for a CGC Pristine 10, ended 8/09/26 | $1,220 for a PSA 10, ended 8/09/26 |
| 151 Charizard ex #199 | 125.3% | $1,476 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 2/08/26 | $1,178 for a PSA 10, ended 2/15/26 |
| Van Gogh Pikachu #085 | 52.0% | $1,586 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 8/03/26 | $3,050 for a PSA 10, ended 8/03/26 |
| Van Gogh Pikachu #085, 2025 | 46.6% | $580 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 3/06/25 | $1,244 for a PSA 10, ended 7/10/25 |
| Van Gogh Pikachu #085, 2025 | 65.3% | $275 for a CGC Mint 9, ended 3/06/25 | $421 for a PSA 9, ended 8/02/25 |
| Japanese 151 Charizard ex #201 | 123.3% | $677 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 5/31/26 | $549 for a PSA 10, ended 8/03/26 |
| Japanese 151 Charizard ex #201 | 39.6% | $677 for a CGC Gem Mint 10, ended 5/31/26 | $1,708 for a PSA 10, ended 1/11/26 |
Dates are the auction end dates as Goldin prints them on each lot page. Percentages are our worked arithmetic on those two prices, nothing more.
Vintage: CGC 10s sell for a sixth to a fifth of PSA 10s
The three Base Set Charizard lines tell one consistent story. The Unlimited CGC Gem Mint 10 at $5,616 and the earlier one at $4,964 sit against a single PSA 10 at $34,770. The 1st Edition CGC 10 at $105,400 and its sister lot at $93,000 sold the same night in February 2026; the PSA 10 at $518,500 came three weeks later. Going back to 2023 and 2024, a 1st Edition CGC 10 at $38,430 compares with a PSA 10 at $195,200. The Shadowless pair, CGC 10 at $9,157 and PSA 10 at $55,293, sold a week apart in 2025.
Six ratios, three print runs, sales from late 2023 to 2026, and every one falls between 14.3% and 20.3%. That is the tightest pattern in the whole dataset, and it still rests on six CGC sales against four PSA sales. It is enough to say that on vintage Charizard a PSA 10 has sold for about five to seven times a CGC Gem Mint 10, not enough to call that a rule for every Wizards-era holo. Our 1st Edition Charizard price history and Shadowless Charizard price history track how far the PSA 10 figures themselves move.
The one vintage pair below 10 behaves differently. The Shadowless CGC 9 at $2,566 sold for 52.6% of a PSA 9 at $4,880 a month later. The discount at 9 is real but much smaller than at 10, which fits the idea that the steepest premium attaches to the top PSA grade specifically.
Modern: the gap swings in both directions
Move to cards printed since 2021 and the pattern breaks. Two CGC 10s outsold their PSA counterparts outright: the Evolving Skies Umbreon VMAX alternate art (a $3,050 CGC 10, sold three weeks after a $2,684 PSA 10) and the 151 Charizard ex (CGC 10 at $1,476 against a PSA 10 at $1,178 a week later).
The others went the vintage way, only less steeply. In one Goldin auction on 8/03/26, the Van Gogh Pikachu sold at $1,586 in CGC Gem Mint 10 and $3,050 in PSA 10. A year earlier the same promo went $580 in CGC 10 against $1,244 in PSA 10, and $275 in CGC 9 against $421 in PSA 9. Across both years the CGC 10 brought roughly half the PSA 10, which is a much milder discount than on vintage.
The Japanese 151 Charizard ex special art rare shows how noisy single sales are. One CGC Gem Mint 10 at $677 falls between a pair of PSA 10 sales of that card, a $549 sale in August 2026 and a $1,708 sale in January 2026. Depending on which PSA sale you pick, the CGC copy sold at 123.3% or 39.6% of PSA. Neither number means much on its own.
The Obsidian Flames pair is not a Gem Mint comparison
The Obsidian Flames Charizard ex pair looks tidy: CGC 10 at $610 and PSA 10 at $1,220, same evening, exactly 50.0%. Read the CGC label, though. That slab is a Pristine 10, the grade CGC places above Gem Mint 10. CGC’s own launch notice describes its scale as “topped by a Gem Mint 10 and, for the best of the best, a Pristine 10.” So this pair compares CGC’s top label with PSA’s top label, which is fair, but it is not evidence about CGC Gem Mint 10s.
The PSA lot also drew a single bid. A one-bid sale tells you what one buyer paid, not what the market would pay, so this is the weakest pair in the table despite the clean numbers.
Why the vintage gap is so much wider
Nobody publishes the cause, so this section is our reading of the population data, not a proven explanation. On vintage Charizard, PSA 10s are extremely scarce relative to CGC 10s. On modern cards, PSA 10s are common.
| Card | CGC: share of graded slabs at any 10 | PSA: share of graded slabs at PSA 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Base Set Unlimited Charizard | 2.0% | 0.5% (March 2026 snapshot) |
| 151 Charizard ex #199 | 34.5% | 32.9% (April 2025 snapshot) |
| Van Gogh Pikachu #085 | 53.4% | 44.9% (January 2026 snapshot) |
| Evolving Skies Umbreon VMAX #215 | 55.9% | 72.5% (June 2025 snapshot) |
The CGC side comes from CGC’s population pages as they stood on October 23, 2026, counting Perfect, Pristine and Gem Mint 10s; PSA counts are from archived PSA pages such as the Base Charizard price-realized page. Authentic-only slabs are excluded on both sides. The shares are our arithmetic.
A PSA 10 Base Charizard is a much rarer object than a CGC 10 of the same card, and the price reflects that. On the 151 Charizard ex and the Pikachu promo, a third to almost half of PSA’s slabs are 10s, so a PSA 10 is not scarce, and the CGC 10 discount shrinks or vanishes. The Umbreon breaks even this tidy story: PSA 10s are more common there than CGC 10s, yet the one CGC 10 sale we have outsold the PSA 10. Collector preference for one holder, set registry demand and plain auction luck all plausibly play a part, and none of them is measured anywhere we could cite. Our separate look at why PSA 10s rise faster than lower grades in hot markets covers the demand side.
Reading CGC labels before you compare prices
Two label details change what a CGC price means.
- Three different 10s. CGC slabs say Perfect 10, Pristine 10 or Gem Mint 10. They sell differently, and a Pristine 10 sale should not be read as a Gem Mint 10 price.
- The 2023 relabel. When CGC merged its trading card and CSG grading in 2023, it declared that “Cards previously graded Gem Mint 9.5 are exactly equivalent to Gem Mint 10 under the updated grading scale”. The new scale took effect July 11, 2023. An older slab reading “Gem Mint 9.5” therefore belongs with today’s Gem Mint 10 prices, not with today’s Mint+ 9.5. Our CGC 9.5 vs PSA 9 price page covers what that does to 9.5 comparisons.
All CGC 10 sales in the table above carry the current Gem Mint 10 or Pristine 10 wording, and the earliest of them, 12/20/23, falls after the new scale started.
How to use these gaps without fooling yourself
- Compare like with like. Same card, same variant, same venue, sales close in time. The 1st Edition PSA 10 went from $195,200 in 2024 to $518,500 in 2026, so pairing a 2024 CGC sale with a 2026 PSA sale would wreck the ratio.
- Know what the premium does. Goldin’s about page lists “Buyer’s Premium 22% ($19 min)”, but the February 2026 1st Edition CGC 10 shows a 24.0% uplift from $85,000 winning bid to $105,400 paid, while the PSA 10 shows 22.0%. Comparing all-in to all-in at one house is the cleanest option; mixing venues is not.
- Look at the bid count. A one-bid lot is a weak data point.
- Check where your grade sits in the gap. A CGC 10 often lands between a PSA 9 and a PSA 10 in price, which is the subject of our CGC 10 vs PSA 9 price comparison.
For collectors weighing whether the gap justifies paying PSA to re-slab a card, the break-even math for a CGC to PSA crossover turns these pairs into fee thresholds, and the crossover grading hub links every grade-by-grade guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much less is a CGC 10 worth than a PSA 10?
It depends on the card. On Base Set Charizards sold at Goldin, a CGC Gem Mint 10 brought between 14.3% and 20.3% of a PSA 10. On modern cards the CGC 10 ranged from 39.6% of the PSA 10 price to more than it.
Do CGC slabs ever sell for more than PSA?
Yes. A CGC Gem Mint 10 Evolving Skies Umbreon VMAX and a CGC Gem Mint 10 151 Charizard ex each sold for more at Goldin than a PSA 10 of the same card sold within a few weeks. Single sales are noisy, so this does not mean CGC is generally worth more on those cards.
Is there a standard PSA premium over CGC?
No published figure exists. We found no grading company or reputable outlet that publishes a typical PSA premium, and the Goldin pairs range too widely to support one number.
Is a CGC 9 worth the same as a PSA 9?
Not in the two pairs we found. A Shadowless Charizard CGC 9 sold for 52.6% of a PSA 9, and a Van Gogh Pikachu CGC 9 sold for 65.3% of a PSA 9.
Does an old CGC Gem Mint 9.5 count as a 10?
Yes. When CGC rebuilt its scale in 2023 it moved its old Gem Mint 9.5 up to sit with Gem Mint 10, so price those older slabs against Gem Mint 10 sales.
Why are vintage PSA 10s so much more expensive than CGC 10s?
No source states the cause. One visible factor is scarcity: PSA 10s make up 0.5% of PSA-graded Base Set Unlimited Charizards, a quarter of the CGC 2.0% rate for 10s on that card, while on modern cards PSA 10s are common.
Sources
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set Holo #4 Charizard – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/09/26, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set Holo #4 Charizard – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 2/15/26, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set Holo #4 Charizard – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 3/08/26, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Holo #4 Charizard – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 2/15/26, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Holo #4 Charizard – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 2/15/26, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Holo #4 Charizard – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 3/08/26, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Rare Holofoil #4 Charizard – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 12/20/23, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Rare Holofoil #4 Charizard – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 2/17/24, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set Shadowless Rare Holofoil #4 Charizard – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 3/01/25, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set Shadowless Rare Holofoil #4 Charizard – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 2/22/25, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Base Set Shadowless Rare Holofoil #4 Charizard – CGC MINT 9 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 6/15/24, read October 23, 2026
- 1999 Pokemon Game Shadowless Rare Holofoil #4 Charizard – PSA MINT 9 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 7/14/24, read October 23, 2026
- 2021 Pokemon Sword and Shield Evolving Skies Secret Rare Full Art #215 Umbreon VMAX – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/21/25, read October 23, 2026
- 2021 Pokemon Sword and Shield Evolving Skies Secret Rare Full Art #215 Umbreon VMAX – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/02/25, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Obsidian Flames SIR #223 Charizard ex – CGC PRISTINE 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/09/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Obsidian Flames SIR #223 Charizard ex – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/09/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Scarlet & Violet 151 #199 Charizard ex – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 2/08/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Scarlet & Violet 151 SIR #199 Charizard EX – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 2/15/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Black Star Promo Pokemon x Van Gogh #085 Pikachu Grey Felt Hat – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/03/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Promo Pokemon x Van Gogh #085 Pikachu Grey Felt Hat – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/03/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon SVP EN Black Star Promo Pokemon X Van Gogh #085 Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 3/06/25, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon SVP EN Black Star Promo Pokemon X Van Gogh #085 Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat – CGC MINT 9 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 3/06/25, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon SVP EN Pokemon X Van Gogh #085 Pikachu/Grey Felt Hat – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 7/10/25, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Promo Pokemon x Van Gogh #85 Pikachu With Grey Felt Hat – PSA MINT 9 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/02/25, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Japanese Pokemon Card 151 Special Art Rare Holo #201/165 Charizard ex – CGC GEM MINT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 5/31/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Japanese Scarlet & Violet 151 Special Art Rare #201 Charizard ex – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 8/03/26, read October 23, 2026
- 2023 Pokemon Japanese 151 Special Art Rare #201 Charizard ex – PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin (lot page), auction ending 1/11/26, read October 23, 2026
- About Goldin (buyer’s premium table) — Goldin, undated page, read October 23, 2026
- CGC Trading Cards and CSG merge as CGC Cards — CGC Cards, 2023, read October 23, 2026
- CGC Cards launch — CGC Cards, 2023, read October 23, 2026
- CGC Cards Population Report: Base Set Unlimited — CGC Cards, read October 23, 2026
- PSA Auction Prices Realized: 1999 Pokemon Game Charizard-Holo (population columns) — PSA, archived by the Internet Archive, Wayback Machine copy from March 2026
- CGC Cards Population Report: Evolving Skies — CGC Cards, read October 23, 2026
- PSA Auction Prices Realized: Full Art / Umbreon Vmax #215 (population columns) — PSA, archived by the Internet Archive, Wayback Machine copy from June 2025
- CGC Cards Population Report: Scarlet & Violet 151 — CGC Cards, read October 23, 2026
- PSA Auction Prices Realized: Charizard Ex #199 (population columns) — PSA, archived by the Internet Archive, Wayback Machine copy from April 2025
- CGC Cards Population Report: Scarlet & Violet Black Star Promos — CGC Cards, read October 23, 2026
- PSA Auction Prices Realized: Pikachu With Grey Felt Hat (population columns) — PSA, archived by the Internet Archive, Wayback Machine copy from January 2026
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.