The Numeric Scale
All major grading companies use a 1 to 10 scale. A 10 represents a virtually perfect card. A 1 represents a card that is heavily worn, altered, or damaged but still authentic. The difference between adjacent grades can mean hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars on the right card.
| Grade | Label | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Gem Mint | Virtually perfect. Sharp corners, full gloss, and near-perfect centering. |
| 9 | Mint | A single minor flaw, such as a slight print spot or a small centering miss. |
| 8 | NM-MT | Near Mint-Mint. Very minor wear visible only on close inspection. |
| 7 | NM | Near Mint. Slight surface wear or minor fraying on one or two corners. |
| 6 | EX-MT | Excellent-Mint. Visible surface wear and minor corner rounding. |
| 5 | EX | Excellent. Minor rounding of corners and light scratching. |
| 4 | VG-EX | Very Good-Excellent. Noticeable rounding and surface wear. |
| 3 | VG | Very Good. Obvious handling, rounded corners, light creasing possible. |
| 2 | Good | Heavy wear, rounded corners, and possible creases. |
| 1.5 | Fair | Excessive wear throughout but the card is still intact. |
| 1 | Poor | Severe damage: major creases, staining, or missing pieces. |
Sub-Grades
Beckett (BGS) is the primary company that shows sub-grades on the label. Each of the four criteria below gets its own score, and they are averaged to produce the overall grade. A card can have a 9.5 overall even if one sub-grade is lower, because the other three pull it up.
The Four Grading Criteria
Centering: the ratio of border widths on opposite sides. Corners: sharpness and cleanliness of all four corners. Edges: smoothness along all four edges with no nicks or chips. Surface: condition of both front and back, where scratches, print defects, staining, and haze all factor in.