Card Grading Service Reviews
Very soon we’ll be launching a new set of reviews on the site, all of which will revolve around the increasing popularity of card games. Over the years the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Magic: The Gathering, and Yu-Gi-Oh! have dominated the market, and all of these games have been around for quite some time. Many of the early cards of these games are almost considered relics and they might fetch a few pretty pennies when sold in mint condition. This is not unlike other collectible card games, such as the very common and popular trading cards revolving around sports. Nonetheless, it’s often hard to find a service that can immortalize your favorite cards, as well as study them in detail to mark flaws, damages, and other markings that we cannot see with the naked eye. For that reason, we will be reviewing different Card Grading Services all over the world. This article will be updated regularly, and for a full list of reviewed services, you may consult the list below the terminology list.
Terminology
- Slab: The case that encapsulated the graded card, often made out of acryl. In most cases this case is laser welded shut, making sure it can not be tampered with without showing clear marks thereof. This is to make sure no counterfeits are put in original grading service cases, or simply to replace a mint card with a poor condition card, passing it off as a mint card.
- Grade: This is the final score given to the card. In many services, this goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being a card in poor condition and 10 being a card in mint condition. Different factors may affect the final score, such as damages and poor printing quality.
- Subgrade: Some companies offer the opportunity to have subgrades visible on the slab’s label of the graded card, supporting the final grade of the card. In many cases this involves four different components:
- Centering (how centered the print of the card is)
- Surface (how neat the surface is, how many scratches or damages there are on the surface, …)
- Corners (how neat the corners are, and how well the card was ‘cut’)
- Edges (the overall quality of the edges of the card)
Card Grading Service Reviews
- Carat Grading (Belgium)
- Universal Grading Services (The Netherlands)
- Orange Card Grading Services (The Netherlands)
- Hirograding (Belgium)
- GRAAD (Italy)
- Cardmarket Grading (Germany)
Storage solutions
- Gemloader Premium Universal Graded Card Binder (The Netherlands)
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[…] As we have announced recently, the site will be taking a closer look at Card Grading Services and we will be reviewing the quality of these services. While many will have heard of PSA, Beckett, and CGC, we will be trying to do our best to provide our readers with opinions of local grading companies as well. To kick things off, we are taking a closer look at Carat Grading, which is based in Belgium, and also offers its clients special diamond-shaped slabs. Carat Grading is immediately a special type of grading company, as it only grades collectible cards, such as sports cards, or even the older TOPPS cards. This means that Carat Grading does not grade Trading Card Games such as Magic The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, or even the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The Pokémon TOPPS cards are, however, perfectly fine. […]
[…] Note: to learn more about terminology for card grading, and card grading service reviews, be sure to check our announcement article that will be updated frequently. You can do so by clicking here. […]
[…] Note: to learn more about terminology for card grading, and card grading service reviews, be sure to check our announcement article that will be updated frequently. You can do so by clicking here. […]
[…] Note: to learn more about terminology for card grading, and card grading service reviews, be sure to check our announcement article which will be updated frequently. You can do so by clicking here. […]
[…] move around for that matter. As it stands now, the pages support nearly all standard slab sizes. From the services we covered, all of the graded cards fit nicely, except for those graded by the now-discontinued Carat Grading. […]