Graded cards 101
A graded card is a card an independent company has checked, scored from 1 to 10, and sealed in a plastic case. This guide walks through how that works and how ATLS keeps track of every one.
A card starts raw
Straight out of a pack, a card is called raw. Two copies of the same card can look very different up close: a soft corner, a scratch, art printed a little off-center.
Those small things change what a card is worth, and people don't always agree on them. So collectors send cards to a grading company to settle it.
A grader scores it
A grading company inspects the card and gives it a grade, usually from 1 to 10. A 10 means as close to perfect as that grader allows.
The big graders are PSA, Beckett (BGS), CGC, SGC and TAG. A few go past 10: BGS Black Label, CGC Pristine 10 and Perfect 10, SGC Pristine and TAG Pristine. ATLS counts each of those as its own grade.
The slab
The card comes back sealed in a hard plastic case called a slab. The label on top shows the grade, the card's name and a cert number.
The cert number belongs to that one slab, like a serial number. Anyone can look it up on the grader's site to check the slab is real.
The population report
Graders count everything they grade. For each card they publish how many copies got each grade. That list is the population report, or pop report for short.
Read it like a ladder
Each rung is a grade, and its length is how many copies got it. In this example, 3,412 copies were graded and 612 got a 10.
A short top rung usually means the card is hard to find in that condition. A long one means plenty of perfect copies exist.
| Rung | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| 10 | How many perfect copies exist |
| 9 | Near perfect, usually the most common high grade |
| Total | How many copies anyone has graded |
Counts only go up
Every time more copies get graded, the report changes. ATLS keeps each version, so you can see how fast a grade is filling up, not only where it stands today.
A brand-new set always gets graded in a rush. A card whose count jumps years later is more interesting.
How ATLS links it
The grader's row, the catalog's card and a marketplace listing all describe the same card, but each says it differently. ATLS pairs them to one record for that exact card and printing.
So a slab, its pop report and its live listings all lead to the same page. Search understands cert numbers too.
Words you'll see
| Raw | A card that hasn't been graded. |
| Slab | The sealed case a graded card comes back in. |
| Grade | The grader's score, usually 1 to 10. |
| Cert number | The serial number on one slab's label. |
| Pop report | How many copies got each grade. |
| Printing | The exact version of a card: 1st Edition, a stamp, a language. |
| Pop growth | How quickly a grade's count is rising. |
| Record | The one ATLS page that joins all of it for a card. |
Look one up.
Search any card on ATLS to see its record: every grade, every printing, and what's for sale right now.