Assessing card condition is probably the most important aspect of serious card collecting. All collectors buy, sell, and trade cards from time to time, and understanding grading is key to not overpaying, underselling, or losing equity in a trade. There’s no substitute for time and experience, but anyone can study the criteria used by PSA and SGC. Hence, the Cardhound Grading Guide.
Hey, it’s not like grading companies invented these criteria–collectors did! We all did just fine before “professional” grading came along. But these days I think collectors tend to over-rely on grading companies. Frankly, graded cards have made us lazy.
To help collectors refine their skills, I recently devised this handy guide for a Cardhound seminar on card grading. It consolidates PSA and SGC grading criteria into one document you can use to self-grade your cards or pre-screen them before sending off to grading. It also eliminates some of their info that I think is outdated with actual practice (when is the last time you saw a card with a pinhole grade a 2?).
The Cardhound Grading Guide
Here’s a snapshot–but the link takes you to the actual document you can save / use:
Other Cardhound Resources for Evaluating Raw Cards
Cardhound has other resources on evaluating raw cards, and you should read them all if just learning how to evaluate cards. The most comprehensive resource is The Ultimate Vintage Sports Raw Card Condition Guide. The Guide walks you though the entire process from start to finish, including needed equipment, understanding grading scales, and more. Start there and then circle back to this Guide to put it all into practice.
Join Cardhound for More Help
And if you want to learn more, please Join Cardhound (free!) and then pop into the Forum on card grading. Complete any of the activities any time and I will chime in with some feedback or just for conversation. Happy collecting!
