CGC scoops up JSA 🔎

Rise and shine, card enthusiasts! This is Penny Sleeve, we’re like the rookie card everyone’s chasing — full of excitement and potential.

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• CGC scoops up JSA 🔎

• @ericwhiteback gets acquired? 🤔

• People to follow in the hobby 👥

• Meme of the day 🃏

CGC SCOOPS UP JSA 🔎

In the latest hobby shake-up, Certified Collectibles Group (CCG), the parent of CGC grading, is set to acquire autograph authentication leader James Spence Authentication (JSA). Founded in 2005, JSA has become one of the most widely used autograph authenticators in the hobby, particularly for memorabilia.

This acquisition fills a significant gap in CGC’s offerings, since they previously lacked a comprehensive autograph authentication service. Their current offering only includes autograph authentication if a collectible is signed in the presence of an “authorized CGC witness“. This move brings CGC up to par with competitors like Beckkett (CBCS) and PSA, particularly on the comic side where CBCS had an edge with its verified signature service.

CCG, which sold a majority stake to private equity behemoth Blackstone in 2021 at a reported $500 million valuation, is following the traditional private equity playbook of rolling up an industry before exiting or going public at a substantial premium. The normal private equity deal lifetime is 5-7 years — it’ll be interesting to see what their plans are with CCG in the next several years.

All things considered, this acquisition seems like a smart move for CGC, addressing a fairly large service gap and positioning them more competitively against other major players in the grading and authentication space. As expected, the hobby is continuing to consolidate, with major players acquiring smaller entities to strengthen their market position and offer more end-to-end experiences.

@ERICWHITEBACK GETS ACQUIRED? 🤔

The Collectibles Guru (aka @ericwhiteback) recently announced that he has sold his social media accounts to a group of collectors, including Elliot Tebele of FuckJerry. Most well-known for his Twitter account with nearly 150k followers, the goal of the acquisition is to bring “more content, bigger breaking news stories, massive giveaways, and much more on all the major social media networks“.

Understandably, the response to the announcement has been fairly negative. Most people were already critical of Eric (or is it Ben?) — arguing that he positioned himself as a trusted voice in the hobby, but only posted shallow content like daily giveaways and sale announcements. On top of that, there’s been a number of accusations of him stealing other people’s content.

Although the terms of the deal are unclear, it does seem strange that someone would be willing to acquire his accounts for presumably a not-insignificant amount, given how much it’s branded towards his specific persona. On one hand, I can’t imagine many people would want to continue following his account knowing that he’s not running it anymore. But it also doesn’t seem like people were there for his personality, so who knows how it’ll play out. Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit) extended an interview invitation to Eric, so hopefully we get some more details on the structure of the deal soon.

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW IN THE HOBBY 👥

• TRIKE415 Sports Cards: Entertaining card show content

• Baseball Card Collector Investor Dealer: An obvious one — great vintage and informational content

• The Hobby With Cage: Refreshing take on sports cards and the hobby

MEME OF THE DAY 🃏