How we grade and work

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How we grade and work

Every card is walked the same way, in the same order, so a record made in July means the same thing as one made in December, and so “number seven” on the audio is the same place on the card every time.

Twelve zones, each face

Front123456789101112
Back123456789101112
  • 1Top edge
  • 2Right edge
  • 3Bottom edge
  • 4Left edge
  • 5Top-left corner
  • 6Top-right corner
  • 7Bottom-right corner
  • 8Bottom-left corner
  • 9Top-left quadrant
  • 10Top-right quadrant
  • 11Bottom-right quadrant
  • 12Bottom-left quadrant

Four edges, four corners, four surface quadrants: twenty-four zones across both faces. The numbers are the same on the bench worksheet, in the spoken walkthrough and on your case record, so any observation can be traced to exactly one place on the card.

How severe is it

Severity What it means
1 trace: visible only under raking light or magnification
2 light: visible on close inspection, not at arm's length
3 moderate: obvious on inspection, affects eye appeal
4 heavy: immediately obvious, materially affects the card
5 severe: dominant flaw, defines the card's condition

A severity is only recorded when it was actually called during the walkthrough. If a zone was looked at but not scored, your record says so rather than filling in a number. An absent row means “not assessed”, which is information, not a gap.

What we call things

On an edge

chipping, ding, dirt, nick, rough cut, whitening

On a corner

bend, blunting, ding, dirt, fraying, layer separation, whitening

On the surface

adhesive, crease, dent, dirt, gloss loss, grease, holo bleed, holo peeling, holo snow, indentation, mold, oil, print line, scratch, scuffing

These are our working words, not an industry standard. Of the nineteen terms above, exactly two, ding and gloss, are defined by any primary authority we could find, both in CGC's public glossary. The rest are the vocabulary we use at the bench so the same flaw gets the same name twice. We would rather tell you that than imply the words carry weight they do not.

What our grade is, and is not

We score each zone out of 10 and record a before and, after the press, an after. It is a subjective in-house review. It is not a PSA, BGS, CGC or TAG grade, it does not predict one, and it carries no authority beyond our own reading of the card in front of us.

Cleaning or pressing makes a card ineligible for grading. PSA, BGS, CGC and TAG all treat it as alteration. A card we restore is a card restored to be kept and enjoyed, not submitted. If you intend to grade a card, tell us before we touch it.

What you end up with

A dated record on the permanent chain of custody for your card: what came in, what was done in each session, what was found, and what could not be fixed, with the video timestamped so you can watch the moment anything happened. It stays live, so a later session adds to the same record rather than replacing it.

A work record, not a grade or an appraisal. Values quoted anywhere on your record are sourced and dated, and are not an offer to buy or sell.