What We Grade at Rare Edition

Details On Our Grading Process.

What We Grade

Cards that have a thickness of 20pt to 55pt.

Not sure how thick your cards are?
Download a digital card thickness guide from BCW Supplies and check your cards against the printed guide.

Got thicker cards? Don't worry!
Support for thicker (70+pt) cards is coming in the near future.

Sport and Non-Sport Cards (non-TCG /CCG)

At this time Rare Edition is accepting sport cards and non-sport cards. Sport cards include Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Boxing, Wrestling, MMA, Golf, Tennis, or other sport cards, while non-sport cards include Star Wars, Marvel, movie cards, or other non-TCG cards.

Standard square-corner, 2.5" by 3.5" sized cards

Most modern and ultra modern cards are a standard size of 2.5" by 3.5" with four sharp corners, but many vintage and non-standard cards may be significantly larger or smaller. Rare Edition only supports standard card sizes at this time, but expects to support other sizes in the near future.

Be an authentic and unaltered card.

Trimmed, recolored, restored, pressed, or otherwise altered cards will not be graded and may be returned without a grade. Any inauthentic or not genuine cards sent to Rare Edition will still incur a grading fee.

What about autographs on cards?

Many card manufacturers (Panini, Topps, etc.) provide authenticated autographs from athletes or celebrities. Rare Edition will grade the quality of a card's autograph and include that grade on the label and grade report. Rare Edition does not guarantee the authenticity of any autograph, nor does Rare Edition authenticate the autograph itself on the card.

Ungradable Cards - Card Sets

While we strive to authenticate and grade all standard sports card for our initial launch, there are some card sets that we are unable to grade at this time. The following list contains the card sets that we cannot currently grade at Rare Edition, though we anticipate opening up grading for some of these sets in the future.
✖︎

Star Basketball

Produced during the mid-1980s, many Star basketball cards had inconsistent quality and suffered from a number of production issues during their printing runs. This makes Star cards challenging to grade and authenticate, in addition to counterfeiting concerns around some of them. Star cards cannot be graded at this time.

✖︎

Panini Soccer Sticker Cards

Panini Soccer sticker cards were produced across a variety of factories, which introduced inconsistencies in the cards. Given these inconsistencies, Panini Soccer sticker cards cannot be graded at this time.

✖︎

Sheet Cut Cards

Sheet cut cards were hand-cut from rolled sheets, which creates significant challenges with their sizing. Given these sizing challenges, sheet cut cards cannot be graded at this time.

✖︎

Box Top Cards

Similar to sheet cut cards, box top cards were included in the bottom or inside of a box of cards. They were typically hand cut, which creates challenges with their sizing. Box top cards cannot be graded at this time.

✖︎

Vintage Cards
Larger than 2.5 x 3.5

Vintage cards that are larger than the standard 2.5" by 3.5" card shape cannot be graded at this time.

✖︎

Die-Cut Cards

Die-cut cards that create unusual card shapes (Panini Crown Royale, Fleer Jambalaya, etc.) cannot be graded at this time.

✖︎

Mini Cards

Mini cards that create unusual card shapes (Goodwin Champions, Topps Mini, etc.) cannot be graded at this time.

✖︎

Unlicensed or "Fan Made" Cards

Cards made by fans, created by unlicensed groups or companies, or otherwise created outside of the normal card production process cannot be graded at this time.

Ungradable Cards - Specific Cards

Rare Edition may decline to grade specific cards that are submitted to us. This can be for many different reasons: high proportion of counterfeits, low production quality, inconsistent sizing, or other production issues. The following is a partial list of specific cards that we do not grade at this time.
✖︎

1928 BABE RUTH FRO-JOY

✖︎

2004 LIONEL MESSI MEGACRACKS RC

✖︎

2019-20 ERLING HAALAND PANINI FUSSBALL RC STICKER

✖︎

1996-97 STADIUM CLUB CO-SIGNERS KOBE BRYANT AUTO

✖︎

1998 TOPPS SERIES 2 KOBE AUTOGRAPH

✖︎

1989 FLEER BILL RIPKEN "FF" FACTORY DESTROYED CARD