Journal
Graded cards: the slab, the grade and the population
What PSA 10 means, why the population report matters, and how we photograph a slab so you can check it yourself.
A graded card comes sealed in a slab by a grading company with a numeric grade and a certificate number. The grade describes centring, corners, edges and surface. The population report says how many copies the grader has given that grade, and how many higher.
Our collectible lots list the grader, the grade, the certificate number (kept private until the sale) and the population at the time of cataloguing. Every slab is photographed front and back so you can check the label and the case.
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More from the journal
Buying signed jewelry at auction
Signatures, numbers, hallmarks and lab reports: how a jewel earns the word 'signed' in our catalogue.
Deadstock, VNDS and why the box label matters
The sneaker vocabulary, and the one thing we check before anything else.
Hermès leathers and the blind stamp
Togo, Clemence, Epsom and Swift, and how the small stamp inside the bag dates it to the year.