Hobbies And Interests

How to Grade Cards

As with any other collectible, the better the condition of your sports cards the more they will be worth. Grading these types of collectibles can be tricky, as there are many facets to consider such as the condition of the corners, the quality of the surface and the centering of the border. You can pay for professional grading services to examine your card, or use common grading techniques to determine your own grade for the pieces of your collection.

Things You'll Need

  • Magnifying glass
  • Ruler
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Instructions

    • 1

      Use the ruler to measure the centering of the borders. The card must be centered with no more than 55 percent of the total border on one side to be considered mint. A card with 60-40 centering can grade as high as near mint-mint while a card with 65-35 centering can grade near mint. Centering of 70-30 can merit an excellent-mint grade and 75-25 centering can grade as high as excellent. Cards with 80-20 centering can merit a very good grade, while cards with borders more off center than this would grade as good, fair or poor.

    • 2

      Examine the corners for wear. These must be very sharp to grade in mint condition. If the corners appear sharp to the naked eye, but display some fuzziness under the magnifying glass they would downgrade the card to near mint-mint. If the slight fuzziness of the corners can be easily seen the card could grade no higher than near mint or excellent-mint. One slightly rounded or "dinged" corner would drop the grade to excellent and multiple slight rounding of the corners might merit a grade of very good. Any major corner rounding drops the card to good at best.

    • 3

      Study the surface of the card. The card must be free of printing imperfections and maintain its original gloss to grade as mint. Some minor focus issues and color spots would downgrade the card to near mint-mint or near mint. If these imperfections are quite noticeable the card should be given a grade no higher than excellent-mint or excellent.

    • 4

      Check the card for any creases. This flaw seriously affects the grade of the card. A hairline crease will cause the card to grade no higher than very good while any larger crease reduces the grade to good at best.


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