What does Grade 9 mean in cards?

If your card gets a grade of 9, you should be very happy. You'll be able to earn book value – or more – for your card. It is also referred to as “mint 9” and is considered the condition that it was in when it was in the pack. If it gets a score of 9.5, it's called a “gem-mint”, signifying that it's nearly flawless.

What is considered a Grade 9 card?

A PSA Mint 9 is a superb condition card that exhibits only one of the following minor flaws: a very slight wax stain on reverse, a minor printing imperfection or slightly off-white borders. Centering must be approximately 60/40 to 65/35 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the reverse.

What is a 10 graded card?

For a card to earn a 10, the edges of a card must be flawless to the naked eye and virtually perfect when looked at under magnification. The final criteria looked at by card graders is the surface of the card. A card's surface is susceptible to loss of glossiness, wax stains, scratching, and printing defects.

What is the difference between Grade 9 and Grade 10 cards?

In comparison, a Pokémon card graded as a 9 is a small step down from a 10. This means usually having some kind of imperfection like a finger stain, imperfect borders, or a more major printing error.

What does PSA 9 mean for cards?

A Mint 9, as defined by PSA, is a card that is in “superb condition” and has only one minor flaw. This flaw can be a range of things, but most commonly PSA will grade a card a Mint 9 if there is simply a “minor printing imperfection”.

PSA 1-10 Grading Scale Explained! Defining Each Grade & Showing Real Example Cards!

What is PSA grade 10?

A PSA Gem Mint 10 card is a virtually perfect card. Attributes include four perfectly sharp corners, sharp focus and full original gloss. A PSA Gem Mint 10 card must be free of staining of any kind, but an allowance may be made for a slight printing imperfection, if it doesn't impair the overall appeal of the card.

Is a 9 graded card good?

If your card gets a grade of 9, you should be very happy. You'll be able to earn book value – or more – for your card. It is also referred to as “mint 9” and is considered the condition that it was in when it was in the pack. If it gets a score of 9.5, it's called a “gem-mint”, signifying that it's nearly flawless.

Is it worth buying PSA 9 cards?

If it's grading mostly PSA 10's (like with Red's Pikachu and some other modern cards), then getting a PSA 9 is just not worth it. If it's evenly balanced or there are less 10's, it may not be a bad value proposition. If 9s and 10s are both pretty scarce for that card, but the 10 is way more pricey, go for the 9.

Should I use Beckett or PSA?

Beckett Grading Services has a lot more bells and whistles than PSA: they offer color-coded tags for the cards based on their grade (gold is a 9.5 or 10, for example), they award subscores so you can see exactly how your cards faired in their four subcategories, and they have a “Black Label” offering for the rare ...

Is PSA 10 hard to get?

Earning a PSA 10 grade on average is quite hard, but is highly dependent on a card's age, scarcity, and condition sensitivity. Newer cards generally have a higher probability of earning a PSA 10, since a collector will immediately protect a card after pulling from a pack.

Why do people buy graded cards?

You should grade cards for any of the following reasons: You want to try and increase the value of your collection. You want to authenticate your card collection. You want to better protect your collection.

Do graded cards hold value?

Much to the surprise of novice collectors, getting cards graded does not always increase their value. In fact, most cards, once graded, will return less than if they were sold raw.

Is PSA grading worth it?

Regardless if you're talking counterfeits or reprints, PSA card grading services can be an excellent tool to verify a card's authenticity. That's not to say that PSA is correct 100% of the time and fakes don't occasionally slip through their hands.

What does 9 mean in grading?

They're graded using 9 to 1, rather than A* to G. Grade 9 is the highest grade. Ofqual's GCSE grading diagrams outline the changes and also provide some useful guide for parents.

What grade is 9 equivalent to?

Grade 9 is considered to be higher than an A* and roughly the top 20% of students who achieve a grade 7 or above will achieve a grade 9.

What is the difference between PSA 9 and 10?

In that case, the 9 was worth 2.5x as much as the raw. PSA 10s are worth about 3.5x as much as PSA 9. So if you're getting your cards graded, that means you score big with a 10.

How much does it cost to send a card to PSA?

Now in terms of pricing, PSA's most basic service level costs $20 per card with a minimum submission of 20 cards worth up to $199 in declared value. On the other hand, their most elite service costs $600 per card, worth up to $9,999 in declared value.

How much does it cost to get a card graded by Beckett?

Beckett grading costs range anywhere from $20 per card all the way up to $250 per card (or more), depending on the value of the card, the age of the card, how many cards you're submitting at one time, how fast you want the turnaround to be, and other factors.

Is Beckett 9.5 as good as PSA 10?

While the condition of a BGS 9.5 and a PSA 10 card might be similar, both grades are far apart. There's a vast difference in value and collectors' sentiment towards both card grades. In non-specialists' terms, 10 is a perfect score and thus much better than a 9.5.

Is PSA really $100 per card?

PSA grading costs range anywhere from $22 per card all the way up to $10,000 per card, depending on the value of the card, the age of the card, how many cards you're submitting at one time, how fast you want the turnaround to be, and other factors. Below is a complete rundown of the PSA grading cost levels.

What is the rarest PSA card?

Pikachu Illustrator

The Illustrator card, given out to 39 winners of the 1997 and 1998 Pokémon illustration contests, is extremely rare. Only 23 have been certified by the PSA, and only one has been given a PSA rating of 10.

How much value does PSA 9 add?

Then a PSA 8 is worth $100. A PSA 9 is worth $300. A PSA 10 is worth $700.

Who grades cards the hardest?

PSA is known for their tough grading standards and their registry which allows collectors to register their PSA graded baseball cards along with the grade. This is both a way to "keep score" and a way to market your cards.

Who grades cards the best?

What is the most affordable card grading?

Of the major grading companies, BGS currently offers the cheapest card grading service, which is $18 to grade a single card at the “Base” level. This is $2 less than CSG's “Economy” level, $5 less than PSA's “Value” service, and $4 less than SGC.