Understanding card condition terminology: PSA, BGS, and raw grades
Grading scales, subgrades, and condition terms can be confusing. Here's what collectors and sellers actually mean when they talk about card condition.
PSA grading scale (1–10)
PSA 10 (Gem Mint): Perfect card. No visible flaws under magnification. Centering must be 60/40 or better. Extremely rare for vintage cards.
PSA 9 (Mint): Near-perfect. May have a minor printing defect or very slight wear. Still looks excellent to the naked eye.
PSA 8 (Near Mint-Mint): Excellent condition with minor flaws. Slight corner wear, minor surface issues, or off-center (but not dramatically).
PSA 7 (Near Mint): Very good condition. Noticeable but minor wear. May have light surface scratches, minor corner wear, or centering issues.
PSA 6 (Excellent-Mint): Good condition. Visible wear but still presentable. May have multiple minor issues or one moderate issue.
PSA 5 and below: Increasing levels of wear, creases, heavy surface damage, or major centering problems. Value drops significantly below PSA 6.
BGS grading scale (with subgrades)
BGS uses the same 1–10 scale but provides subgrades for four categories: Centering, Corners, Edges, and Surface. The overall grade is typically the average of the four subgrades, rounded down.
Black Label (Pristine 10): All four subgrades must be 10. Extremely rare, often worth significantly more than a regular BGS 10.
Gold Label (Perfect 10): Overall 10 with at least one subgrade below 10. Still exceptional.
Subgrades help you understand exactly where a card's weaknesses are. A card with 9.5/9.5/9.5/8.5 subgrades tells you the surface is the limiting factor—which might be something restoration could address.
Raw card condition terms
- Mint/NM-MT: Near mint to mint, likely PSA 8–9
- Near Mint (NM): Likely PSA 7–8
- Excellent (EX): Likely PSA 5–6
- Very Good (VG): Likely PSA 3–4
- Good (G): Likely PSA 2–3
- Poor (P): PSA 1 or Authentic
- Centering: How balanced the image is within borders
- Corners: Sharpness and absence of wear
- Edges: Clean edges without chipping or wear
- Surface: Gloss, scratches, print defects, residue
Why condition terminology matters for restoration
Understanding grading helps you set realistic expectations. If a card has visible corner wear and surface scratches, it's probably not going to grade a 9 or 10, even after restoration. But if those issues are minor and fixable, restoration might bump it from a 6 to an 8.
The four categories (centering, corners, edges, surface) also tell you what restoration can and can't fix. Surface issues? Often fixable. Corner wear? Can sometimes be improved, but severe damage is permanent. Centering? Not fixable—that's a printing issue.
When evaluating whether restoration makes sense, think about which category is limiting the grade. If it's surface (something restoration can address), that's a good candidate. If it's centering or severe corner damage, restoration might not move the needle much.
The "eye appeal" factor
Sometimes a card can grade the same but look dramatically different. Two PSA 7 cards might have the same technical score, but one looks much nicer because its flaws are less noticeable. Restoration often improves eye appeal even when it doesn't change the grade.
For personal collections, eye appeal might matter more than the grade. For selling, the grade is what sets the price, but better eye appeal can help your card sell faster or at the higher end of that grade's price range.