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How to Grade a Card |
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The text used here is largely borrowed from Scrye© Magazine. |
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| Card grading can be difficult, especially since we all want to get the most trading or selling out of our cards. But, there are accepted grades of cards that most all collectors agree upon. |
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Mint (M) |
"This card is a card that is perfect in every way." Scrye© Printing mistakes (ink blotches and being off center) and cutting machine errors (scratching, edge mangling), will take a card out of the MINT range. |
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Near Mint (NM) |
"This (probably) unplayed card shows alomost no wear and may have a few minor scratches or slight marks on the card's edges." Scrye© Minor printing and cutting mistakes (small ink blotches, being slightly off center, minor edge mangling) are acceptable. |
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Collectors (and I'm a collector) generally seek only MINT or Near MINT cards. |
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FINE (F) |
"This card has obviously been played, but not heavily. It lacks marks that would make it easily identifiable. It definitely has some minor scratches and/or less-than-perfect edges. It will show less than 1/16 inch depth of white along one or two edges of one face of the card. It may have a minor crease that is only visible close-up." Scrye© The key thing here is all four edges cannot have white showing, only up to two. If the card is white border (as many Star Wars cards), one would look to see how much of the gloss is missing from the edge. |
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GOOD (G) |
"This card has a played look to it. It will have white showing on three or four edges on both faces. This card may also have more than 1/16 inch depth of white showing on an edge on the back face of the card. It may also be a card tha looks like aNear MINT card except the it has one distinguishing wear feature, such as, a slight tear, or an easily identifiable crease. It may also have permanent black marks from dirt. It is only acceptable for play if it cannot be easily distinquished from the other cards of the playdeck." Scrye© 'Nuff said |
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POOR (P) |
"Any card in less than Good condition." Scrye© Any attempt to disguise or fraudulantly represent a card in a condition other than its true condition will render a card this condition. This includes using magic marker to color in scratches, etc. on a black border card. |
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Misprints & Errors: (ME) |
"If a card is damaged in the factory by being irregularly cut or crimped by the flow wrap machine, it often has NO value." Scrye© This would also include odd misprintings. Any misprinted card will have value only to a collector of oddities, sort of like the mis-stamped coins that are worth thousands. |
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