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How to Get Your Baseball Cards Graded to Sell on the Market

Baseball cards are collector's items that usually detail the statistics and accomplishments of a baseball player. They are usually composed of paper or light cardboard. Some of the statistics that may be found on the back of these cards for a position player, like a first baseman, are home runs and hits. A pitcher, however, has statistics such as wins and innings pitched on the back of his card. Getting your baseball cards graded for sale on the open market requires personal observation of the cards.

Things You'll Need

Magnifying glass

Instructions

- 1
  Pick up your magnifying glass and observe your card. If it has four pointed corners, a 55 percent to 45 percent centering ratio of the image within the card's white border, completely flat edges, an original color border and finishing gloss, it is considered in "Mint" condition.
- 2
  Pick up your magnifying glass and observe your card. If it has almost completely pointed corners, a 60 percent to 40 percent centering ratio of the image within the card's white border, and an original color border and finishing gloss, it is considering in "Near Mint-Mint" condition. "Near Mint-Mint" cards also have one of these imperfections: very slight marks observed on the card with the magnifying glass or image focus flaws.
- 3
  Pick up your magnifying glass and observe your card. If it has a 65 percent to 35 percent centering ratio of the image within the card's white border, it is in "Near Mint" condition. "Near Mint" cards also have one of these imperfections: slightly fuzzed corners, very slightly rounded edges, slight border coloring other than white or image focus flaws.
- 4
  Pick up your magnifying glass and observe your card. If it has a 70 percent to 30 percent centering ratio of the image within the card's white border or slight rounding of one of the card's corners, it is considered in "Excellent-Mint" condition. "Excellent-Mint" cards also have one or two of these imperfections: Lightly fuzzed corners, lightly rounded edges, coloring of the border other than white, visible print spots, color flaws or image focus flaws.
- 5
  Pick up your magnifying glass and observe your card. If it has a 75 percent to 25 percent centering ratio of the image within the card's white border in addition to a slight rounding of one of the card's corners, it is considered in "Excellent" condition. "Excellent" cards also have one of these imperfections: flawed gloss, flawed image focus or visible print spots.
- 6
  Pick up your magnifying glass and observe your card. If it has a 80 percent to 20 percent centering ratio of the image within the card's white border, it is considered in "Very Good" condition. "Very Good" cards also have one or more of these imperfections: Slightly rounded corners, marks on the edges, scuffing on the card's surface or slight creasing.
- 7
  Pick up your magnifying glass and observe your card. If it has a image centering ratio within the card's white border higher than 80 percent to 20 percent, it is considered in "Good", "Fair" or "Poor" condition. "Good", "Fair" or "Poor" cards also can have noticeably rounded or peeled corners, surface marks, poor image coloring and creases.

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