The Scale.
We grade from 1 to 10 in half steps, across four subgrades. The certificate lists each one.
From 1 to 10.
Gem Mint
Virtually flawless: sharp corners, clean edges, strong centering, pristine surface. The top grade.
Mint+
Minimal deviations, only visible on close inspection.
Mint
Outstanding condition with one small flaw.
NM-Mint+
Very good condition, isolated light traces.
NM-Mint
Very well preserved, small flaws visible on close inspection.
Near Mint
7.5 Near Mint+ · 7 Near MintWell-kept condition with light signs of wear on corners or surface.
Excellent
6.5 EX-Mint+ · 6 EX-Mint · 5.5 Excellent+ · 5 ExcellentVisible to clear signs of play, but solidly preserved overall.
Very Good
4.5 VG-EX+ · 4 VG-EX · 3.5 Very Good+ · 3 Very GoodHeavy wear on corners, edges or surface. Minor damage possible.
Good / Poor
2.5 Good+ · 2 Good · 1.5 Poor+ · 1 PoorSevere wear up to structural damage. The card is complete but clearly impaired.
The 4 Subgrades.
Every card gets four individual grades. The final grade is calculated from them.
Centering
How centered the print sits on the card. Measured from the borders of front and back.
Corners
Rates the condition of the four corners. Checked for wear, creases, whitening and damage.
Edges
Rates the condition of the card edges. Checked for abrasion, chips, whitening and unevenness.
Surface
Rates the card's surface. Checked for scratches, print defects, dirt and damage.
How a grade is made.
We measure centering. Surface findings are recorded with position and size. The grader assigns the subgrades.
Measurement
We scan both sides under nine lighting modes, 18 captures per card. From these we measure centering and record scratches, dents and creases with position, size and severity.
Assessment
The grader assesses every corner and every edge individually and assigns the four subgrades.
The final grade.
The final grade is the geometric mean of the four subgrades. It is at most 1.0 above the lowest subgrade.
- Ce
- Centering
- Co
- Corners
- Ed
- Edges
- Su
- Surface
If two or more subgrades share the lowest value, that value is the final grade.
The result is rounded to half grades. Exactly halfway rounds up.
Examples
| Ce | Co | Ed | Su | Mean | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.0 | 9.49 | 9.5 |
| Mean, rounded | |||||
| 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 7.0 | 9.15 | 8.0 |
| At most lowest subgrade + 1.0 | |||||
| 9.5 | 9.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.99 | 8.5 |
| Two subgrades at the lowest value | |||||
The centering.
We measure the borders on both sides. The ratio sets the highest possible centering subgrade.
- On each side the worse ratio counts, left to right or top to bottom. For the card, the lower of the two table values applies.
- The grader can grade lower, for example for a card that is cut at an angle, but not higher.
- The limit applies when the measurement is reliable or the grader has drawn the border lines by hand, for example on borderless cards.
- Ratios are rounded to one decimal, which is how the certificate shows them. 52.0/48.0 counts as “up to 52/48”, 52.1/47.9 does not.
| Centering at most | Front up to | Back up to |
|---|---|---|
| 10.0 | 52/48 | 57/43 |
| 9.5 | 55/45 | 60/40 |
| 9.0 | 60/40 | 70/30 |
| 8.0 | 65/35 | 75/25 |
| 7.0 | 70/30 | 80/20 |
| 6.0 | 75/25 | 85/15 |
| 5.0 | 80/20 | 90/10 |
| worse | at most 4.5Below that, the grader decides. | |
Pristine.
Pristine is not a separate grade. A 10 becomes Pristine when all four subgrades are 10.0 and centering is at most 51/49 on the front and 55/45 on the back.
This also applies to borderless cards once the grader has drawn the border lines by hand.
The card then gets the Pristine label: gold instead of red, without the subgrade bar.
Authentic Altered.
Authentic Altered means the card is genuine but was altered after manufacture, for example trimmed, recoloured, pressed, restored or cleaned. We do not grade it. The grader records the alteration and a second person confirms it.
Authentic Altered is not a suspicion of counterfeit. A counterfeit gets neither a grade nor a slab.
The public certificate only says “Authentic Altered”, without a grade and without the kind of alteration. Only the submitter learns which alteration we found.
The pop report shows how often we have given each grade, by card and set.
Pop report