Dean's Cards Automated Grading
Technical Details and Metrics
Grading Sports Cards
The biggest inconsistency in sports card collecting has traditionally been the grading of the cards. Assigning a grade to a card’s condition, by humans, can vary depending on the person grading it, or the card being graded. That is now a thing of the past.
Dean’s Cards has developed a software application that grades sports cards. The card’s front and back images, along with its detailed grading scores, are displayed for your review. Dean’s grading software is far superior to the old way of grading cards. Using high definition images, the Dean’s Cards grading program can evaluate the card in far more detail. It also provides a consistent, unbiased evaluation of the card, in much faster time, and is not subject to fatigue.
Our automated grading system provides detailed statistics for each card. By comparing the data of millions of cards, Dean’s Cards is able to provide accurate and precise grading in the hobby.
Determining a Card's Grade
The sharpness of the corners and the degree to a card was cut off-center determines the maximum possible grade that the card can receive. The card's grade is further reduced by any flaws or blemishes that it may have. Each card is evaluated on the following characteristics and assigned a score.
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Corners - Each corner of a card is individually analyzed, and then assigned a score on how square, sharp, and flawless it appears.
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Centering - The borders are measured, at multiple points along the edge, to determine the horizontal and vertical centering and tilt.
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Defects- The card is examined for imperfections, such as: size, print flaws, dings, stains, creases, or other wear which could lower its grade.
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Bonus for Perfect Centering - A vintage card, with near perfect centering, is given a one-half grade bonus. So when you see one of our cards with a half-grade (e.g. 3.5 or 6.5) it will appear perfectly centered, both vertically and horizontally.
Corners
The most subjective part of grading vintage sports cards has traditionally been determined by the grading of its corners. This is where the Dean’s Cards Grading Software excels. Our software application examines each card at 1200 dpi to determine the highest possible grade that the card can receive, given its worst corner and average corner scores.
When a vintage sports card is examined at high resolution, few have corners with perfect right angles or corners without dings, flaws, blemishes, or other signs of wear. Each corner is examined at high resolution and given a score based on the straightness of the edges, completeness of the corner, and the perfection of the surface area.
Worst Corner Grade
For a sports card to achieve a particular grade, all of its corners must achieve a certain minimum standard - in terms of sharpness. This is the maximum grade possible for this card, based on its worst corner. For example, a card with 3 corners that have a max grade of 7, and one corner with a max grade of 4, is given a Worst Corner Grade of 4. This is now the highest possible grade for the card, regardless of its other attributes.
Average Corner Grade
The Average Corner Grade considers the condition of the four corners, as a group. This grade is NOT determined by averaging the maximum grades of the corners.
Most vintage cards have corners that vary in condition. In cases where the Worst Corner Grade is the criteria that determines the card’s grade, the card usually has some more attractive corners that compensate for the weaker corners, and raise its Average Corner Score.
There are occasions when each of the four corners on a particular card are each sharp enough to clear the threshold required to receive a particular Worst Corner Grade, but the Average Corner Grade is not high enough to receive that same grade.
For example, a card may have very consistent corners, with each corner just strong enough to earn a Worst Corner Grade of 6, but as a group, the Average Corner Grade of the corners is a 5.
Centering
Vintage sports cards were printed on large sheets of cardboard, usually with solid margins separating each card. Each printing sheet contained dozens of cards that were cut, in order to produce the individual cards. These margins then became the borders of a particular card. The cutting process was seldom precise, and location of the cut often varied slightly, from one print sheet to the next, resulting in different sized borders on the individual cards. This can be clearly seen in most vintage sets, when several of the same player are compared to one another. Well-centered cards are considered more desirable by collectors and sell for a premium.
Our software measures the borders on the front and back of each card at different points, along the edges of the card, to determine how far off-center each card is, both vertically and horizontally. The percentage of the border, for each edge is displayed in the Top-to-Bottom, and Left-to-Right ratio.
For example, a particular card may have scores of 36/64 for Vertical and 57/43 for Horizontal. This means that 36% of the card’s vertical border is on the top of the card and 57% of the horizontal border is located on the left side of the card. The displayed score is measured at a card’s most well-centered point, and the numbers for each score will add up to 100. A perfectly centered card will have 50/50 centering.
Tilt
The borders of a card seldom have the same exact width for the entire length of its edge. The Tilt represents this variance. For example, a card with a horizontal score of 64/36 at it’s top and 61/39 at its bottom, will have a Tilt of about 3%. As a rule, cards with a noticeable Tilt are less desirable.
OCT
A card’s OCT (or OC+T) is the sum of how far a card is Off-Center plus its Tilt. This represents how far off-center a card is at its worst point. In the previous example, a card has a horizontal score of 64/36, which means the card has an OC score of 14, and is off-center by 14% (64-50=14) and a Tilt of 3%. This card would then have an OCT of 17%. (14%+3%=17%)
Minimum Centering Requirements
With a few exceptions, Dean’s Cards uses the following guidelines for Centering, Tilt, and OCT requirements on cards to achieve a particular grade. Because of the way that the human brain is wired, horizontal centering plays a larger factor in determining the attractiveness (and grade) of a card. You will see this reflected in the charts below.
Off-Center Thresholds for Vertically Oriented Cards
Off-Center Thresholds for Horizontally Oriented Cards
Eye Appeal
The combination of a card’s centering and corners is reflected in the grade it is given for its overall attractiveness or Eye Appeal. For example, if a card barely achieves acceptable standards on its Worst Corner, Average Corner and Centering for a particular grade, it may be noticeably less attractive than other cards with the same grade.
The Eye Appeal score is used to lower the grade of cards with lackluster qualities and assign it a more appropriate grade. As with the aforementioned scores, the Eye Appeal score can only lower a card’s grade, not increase it.
Bonus for Great Centering
Cards with great centering are preferred by collectors and usually sell for a premium. This is reflected in our grading. Cards that appear perfectly centered receive a bonus of half of a grade. This bonus also applies to cards with defects.
A bonus for Great Centering can be applied to cards that meet the following conditions:
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Issued before 1956 and have a base grades between 1.5 and 6
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Issued between 1957 and 1979 and have a base grade between 1.5 and 7
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Cards issued after 1980 are not eligible for a Great Centering Bonus because most already have great centering.
Please see the chart below for minimum standards for well centered cards.
Well Centered Minimum Requirements
| Vertically Oriented | Horizontally Oriented | |||
| Max OC Vert | 9% | Max OC Vert | 7% | |
| Max OC Horz | 6% | Max OC Horz | 10% | |
| Max Total OC | 11% | Max Total OC | 12% | |
| Max Vert OTC | 9% | Max Vert OCT | 8% | |
| Max Horz OTC | 6% | Max Horz OCT | 11% | |
| Max Vert Tilt | 2% | Max Vert Tilt | 3% | |
| Max Horz Tilt | 3% | Max Horz Tilt | 2% | |
Defects
After examining a card’s corners and centering, it is then appraised for other imperfections that could lower its grade.
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Minor Flaws - Given for minor imperfections, such as print dots and smudges, dings on edges. One grade is subtracted for cards with base grades higher than VG-3.
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Flaws - Applies to surface wrinkles, dings and other imperfections. The highest possible grade is VG/EX-4. Post-War cards that grade VG/EX-4 will be reduced 1 grade to VG-3.
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Major Flaws - Receive a maximum grade of 2 and a reduction of 1 grade. This designation is given to cards with big problems, such as paper loss, very heavy creasing, writing on the card, rips, pin holes, etc.
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Rough Edges - Most rough edges occurred when the card was produced. One grade is subtracted for cards with base grades higher than VG/EX-4.
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Excess Tilt - The image is tilted to a high degree, it reduces the attractiveness of the card. Most cards are reduced one grade when the Horizontal Tilt exceeds 7%.
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Creases - Cards with creases can not have a base grade higher than VG-3.
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Stains on Front - Cards with stains on their front have a maximum grade of EX-5. One grade is subtracted for cards with base grades of EX/MT-6 to VG-3. A very light stain may be considered a minor flaw.
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Stains on Back - Cards with stains on the back have a maximum grade of EX/MT-6. One grade is subtracted on cards with base grades of NM-7 to VG/EX-4. A very light stain may be considered a minor flaw.
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Miscut - Miscut cards have either no border or show part of another card. The card is lowered by one grade and grades no higher than VG-3.
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Marked Checklists - Can grade no higher than FAIR-1.5
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Size - Trading cards were cut from a large printing sheet and vary in size to some degree. Our software measures the size of the card to determine if it meets minimum size requirements. A card may be considered Oversized, Undersized or Trimmed.
Card Backs
While the condition of the back of a card does factor into a card’s condition, these flaws do not lower a card’s grade as severely. For example, cards can have centering as bad as 90/10 without lowering its grade. We do provide the centering score for the back of the card, when possible.
Other grading notes
The grading standards presented above are given as a guideline. The designs of cards have varied greatly over the years and not all of our grading measurements can be applied to every set that was produced. We use our software to automate the card grading process wherever possible, but there are some cards that still need to be partially or completely graded by humans.
It should be noted that while the Dean’s Cards Grading Software is superior to the human eye and brain, in terms of detection, precision, consistency and speed, its analysis is limited to two dimensions. Creases and bumps are more easily detected from a 3-Dimensional viewpoint. For this reason, each card is also examined by one of our staff, to ensure that any possible defects are considered in the card’s final grade.
Please help us out
With over a million cards online, there are errors that slip by us. If you see an incorrectly graded card, a bad image, or broken link, we would appreciate it if you would click on the red “Report” button and bring it to our attention.
About Dean’s Cards
The mission statement of Dean’s Cards is to make collecting sports cards fast, easy and fun.
With an inventory of over a million vintage trading cards posted online and available for purchase, DeansCards.com is the best place to shop for vintage sports and non-sports cards.
Our goal is to have every mainstream vintage sports and non-sports trading card, available in multiple conditions, online and available for purchase.
Each card has huge front and back images, along with its detailed grading statistics.
We also offer almost every vintage card set, in just about every grade. There are over 20,000 complete sets, near complete, starter sets and team sets online, each containing the images of every card.
