In this age of material certainties it’s become more and more necessary for consumers to be sure of the value of anything they’re going to buy, especially in the realm of collectibles. The mere act of acquiring a valuable item is meaningless of the value is depreciated by poor quality. In the mid 90s the baseball card industry (and sports trading cards in general) saw a shift away from the backyard hobbying mentality of children nationwide to the more adult oriented, money savvy approach to grading their collectibles by the quality with which they were made.

Think of it as creating yet more layers of rarity. Take for example the 1952 Topps set. It’s already incredibly rare to have cards from this set. Now, take from that set the Mickey Mantle rookie card, the most expensive modern baseball card, even more incredibly rare. Now, there needs to be a way to differentiate the rarity of this card as opposed to Timmy in New Hampshire who has an identical, but slightly bent copy of the same card. This is where grading comes in.

There are official baseball card grading services nationwide, the most prevalent of which is PSA or Professional Sports Authenticator. They’ve been around for years and their services are even somewhat reasonable now that they’ve become the industry standard. They’re prices range from $5 to $200 depending on the listed value of the card and the nature of the grading (autographs and vintage cards cost more). You pretty much give them your card and they decide based on a number of factors what score they’ll give you out of 10, with 10 being a gem mint or perfect card. For the record a gem mint card is incredibly rare. When the cards are manufactured there’s a pretty decent percentage chance that they’ll miss a corner or it’ll be uneven and the value is automatically lowered.

Now, if you don’t feel like going through with paying X amount of money for every card you have graded you can still sell your stuff, and most dealers are skilled enough to eyeball a card and guess the relative grade and value, but you don’t get the benefit of knowing for sure. Here are some tips to know what they’re looking for though so as you don’t find yourself shortchanged when you sell.

Mint (MT) -Four sharp corners - 55(%)/45(%) or better centering (i.e., centering of picture within border; left-right & top-bottom) - Smooth edges - Original color border & gloss. For a perfect 10, the card must be 50/50 centered and perfect. Mint is generally 9-9.5

Near Mint - Mint (NRMT-MT) - 60/40 or better centering - Relatively smooth edges - Original color border & gloss - One of the following very minor flaws is allowed: Sharp corners to the eye, but slight imperfections under intense scrutiny; A few minor print spots; A few focus imperfections

Near Mint (NM) - 65/35 or better centering - In addition, one of the following minor flaws allowed: Very slightly fuzzy corners; Slightly rough edges; Very minor border discoloration; Noticeable print spots; Color or focus imperfections

Excellent - Mint (EXMT) - Centering no worse than 70/30 - No more than two of the following flaws allowed: Very slightly fuzzy corners; Slightly rough edges; Very minor border discoloration; Noticeable print spots; Color or focus imperfections

Excellent (EX) - Centering no worse than 75/25 - A touch of notching or a slight 'ding' on a corner is allowed. – May have other imperfections such as: Poor gloss; Poor focus; Noticeable print spots

Very Good (VG) – Centering 80/20 or better - Slightly rounded corners - Slight layering, noticeable chipping or notches on edges is allowed. - May also have: Minor scuffing; Hairline crease

Good (G) Fair (F) Poor (P) - Well worn or abused - Badly rounded, layered corners, scuffing - Some lack of original coloring - Serious crease

These are the more traditional ratings used by collectors, and they more or less match up with PSA’s grading chart spot on, but keep in mind when you’re dealing with a dealer you’re dealing with a partial party. He might tell you you’re worse off than you are because of a flaw that isn’t really there.