5-Step Review

We take an up close look at your cards to help estimate things that can go unseen to the naked eye. Our 5-step review is outlined below.

Corners

This is the only time it's good to be cornered. Having intact corners on your card is a BIG plus. That's why we take a closer look.

Color registration

Color registration is not a huge concern when estimating - but it is definitely something that could make your card stand out amongst others.

In the bottom image, we can see the C.M.Y K. colors out of register with the black line. This can also make the image look out of focus. The CMYK acronym stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (or Black), which are the colors used in the printing process. A printing press uses dots of ink to make up the image from these four colors.

Surface

We're just scratching the surface! Well - we hope not...because we look for scratches and other imperfections.

The top image has some scratch marks that are noticeable when we play around with light. The second image shows a stain, which could be grease, etc. Most of these come from the press. The third image shows a crease. That can be caused by rough handling or poor storage.

A flawless card to the naked eye. Could have these markings when magnified. When magnified we can give you a better estimate.

Edges

We make sure the edges are nice and clean with no chips. Most cards are handled by the edges that could damage its value. In the example we have here it is obvious that better days have been seen.

Just because you cant see it on your card doesn't mean it's not there. Remember...cardboard does degrade after several years and begins to flake apart and sometimes you can only see that

under magnification.

Centering

Make sure your card is the center of attention! A card looks best when centered and will give you a better value. There is some play with centering. We take into account that cards are cut by a machine and can be slightly off...but too much will cost you in your grade.

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

We look for:

• Raised dimples

• Fakes

• Trimmed Cards