Dean's Automated Sports Card Grading System

Dean's Solution to Grading Vintage Sports Cards

Condition is paramount when valuing vintage (printed before 1980) sports cards, as the condition of older cards varies wildly across the 10-point scale. Without technical assistance, human grading is highly meticulous and subjective, which isn't ideal when the difference between one grade often amounts to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. 

Dean’s Cards’ in-house, sports card grading system is unbiased, extremely efficient, and more accurate than human grading in volume. Since 2019, our card grading software has evaluated 1,000,000+ cards that we've sold to happy customers. 

Benefits Over Human Grading

  1. Unbiased - Removing bias is impossible for even the best human graders. The players depicted on a card, card value, and even the overall condition of the batch being graded create subconscious biases.

  2. Accuracy With high resolution images, our vintage card grading software evaluates cards in far more detail than the human eye, detecting corner wear and border centering down to the pixel.

  3. Consistency - Human graders can only evaluate so many cards at once before standards slip. Plus, standards sometimes vary. Automated card grading is not subject to fatigue or personal preferences. 

  4. Efficiency - Dean's software calculates grades instantaneously after cards are scanned. Thousands of cards can be graded in one sitting. 

  5. Reference History for Refinement - Data from over a million graded cards continuously fine-tunes calibrations.

Grading Transparency for All

Dean’s vintage card grading software provides detailed statistics for every card, so it’s no mystery why one card is graded a 6 (EX-MT) and another a 5 (EX). Our advanced and highly accurate metrics grant collectors a level of transparency never before seen in the industry. Grading stat displays are generated for every card on our website, as shown below.

Grading Stats ExampleDetailed grading stats are displayed for every graded card. (1967 Topps Ernie Banks)

Grading Scale & Standards

Dean's automated sports card grading system closely follows the PSA grading standards in all regards except half grades. In our system, half grades are only used as bonuses for cards with great centering. As always, our raw card grading scale stops at 8 (NM-MT) rather than 10 (GEM-MT). The highest grade assigned by our card grading software is 8.5 (NM-MT+), which only occurs when a card is graded an 8 and also receives a Well-Centered Bonus.

See the Dean's Cards Grading Standards

How the Automated Sports Card Grading System Works

The Process

  1. Qualification - Cards are inspected by humans for flaws undetectable by the computer. Flaws, or defects, factor into the final grade.

  2. Analyzation - Cards are scanned and the 1200 dpi images are analyzed by our vintage card grading software. 

  3. Grade Calculation - Grading metrics and final grades are generated. Grading metrics are measured against thresholds programmed for any given set based on over one million cards worth of data.

Human Qualification

The first step is for humans to “qualify” cards in order to detect flaws not noticeable on two-dimensional images. Depending on the defect, the system will set a maximum possible grade or lower the grade. Examples of possible defects include: print flaws, dings, stains, creases, wrinkles, print flaws, gum residue, paper loss, and other surface wear.

Grading Calibrations & Adjustments

With well over a million vintage cards graded, we’ve fine-tuned our system by calibrating custom thresholds for each individual issue (set). These custom thresholds ensure grading metrics are calibrated appropriately for every card we scan. As most collectors know, for example, 1952 Topps Baseball should NOT be graded on the same standards as 1979 Topps Baseball. PSA follows the same approach.

Every vintage set requires custom calibration due to varying designs, card sizes, colors, border thickness, and more. Dean's automated sports card grading system is calibrated for all major sets from 1933-1984.

Grading Stats ExampleCalibrated for all vintage card sizes  (1970-71 Topps Lew Alcindor) (1951 Bowman Ted Williams)

Determining the Final Grade

After qualification, cards are scanned and analyzed by our card grading software. Every card begins the grading process with a potential grade of 9. Our system evaluates both sides of the card based on dozens of individual attributes. Each attribute is assigned a score that determines the maximum possible grade (Max Grade).

  1. Corners - Each corner is individually analyzed on how square, sharp, and flawless it appears.

  2. Centering - The borders are measured, at multiple points along the edge, to determine the horizontal and vertical centering and tilt.

  3. Defects - Flaws detected at the “qualification” stage are taken into consideration. Additional qualifiers detected by the card grading software, such as rough edges or size requirements, are also added to the grading scores.

  4. Bonus for Perfect Centering - Cards with near perfect centering receive a ½ grade boost. For example, a near perfectly centered 3 becomes a 3.5.


Dean's Grading Metrics Explained

Grading Corners

Corner evaluation is typically the most subjective part of the human grading process, so this is where Dean’s automated vintage card grading system excels. Our card grading software analyzes the scans to assign scores for every corner based on the straightness of the edges, completeness of the corner, and the perfection of the surface area. Tiny dings, flaws, blemishes, or other signs of corner wear previously overlooked by human grading are detected and taken into consideration. 

Corner scores are calculated for all four corners and determine the corner grades. Corner scores are weighted based on the minimum thresholds calibrated for any given set or year. 

Grading Stats ExampleWorst Corner Score and Average Corner Score (1965 Topps Hank Aaron)

Worst Corner and Average Corner Scores

A card cannot grade higher than its Worst Corner Grade. For example, the Hank Aaron card above has three highly graded corners but the bottom left corner only received a 5 (EX). The highest possible base grade this card can receive is a 5 (EX), regardless of its other attributes.

The Average Corner Grade is the average of the four corners, which is 6 (EX-MT) in this example. Although the average does not determine the final grade, the metric is still helpful to tell the full story.

Centering

Well-centered vintage cards are highly desirable by collectors and often sell for a premium. The Dean’s Cards grading system precisely measures the borders on the front and back of each card at different points along the edges. Off-centered borders are measured both vertically and horizontally.

Grading Stats ExampleOff-Center (OC) Ratios  (1961 Topps Johnny Unitas)

Off-Center (OC) Ratios

Centering is displayed by off-center (OC) ratios: Vertical OC and Horizontal OC. The displayed ratios are measured at a card’s most well-centered point, and the numbers in each ratio will add up to 100. Off-center ratios of 50/50 represent perfect centering (50% of the border on each side), but that’s nearly impossible with vintage sports cards.

For example, the Johnny Unitas card above with a Vertical OC Ratio of 60/40 has a thicker border at the top (60% of the border) than the bottom (40% of the border). The card's Horizontal OC Ratio of 31/69 indicates 31% of the border is on the left side and 69% on the right.

Total OC expresses how off-center a card is overall and is calculated by adding together the amount a card is off-center vertically and horizontally. In our example, the Vertical OC Ratio of 60/40 (10% off-center) and Horizontal OC Ratio of 31/69 (19% off-center) has a Total OC of 29% (10% + 19%).

Vertical OC, Horizontal OC, and Total OC all factor into the off-center thresholds (see chart further down the page) that determine a card’s maximum grade based on its centering.

Tilt

Vintage card borders seldom maintain the same exact width for the entire length of the edges. Vertical Tilt and Horizontal Tilt represent this variance. 

For example, a card with a Horizontal OC Ratio of 52/48 near the top right corner and 59/41 near the bottom right corner will have a Horizontal Tilt of about 7%. In this case, the vertical centering varies 7% along the right and left edges of the card. 7% may not sound severe, but its significantly noticeable to the human eye. As a rule, cards with significant Tilt are less desirable.

OCT (Off-Center + Tilt)

For simplicity, Vertical OCT and Horizontal OCT are Dean’s custom metrics to quantify how far off-center a card is at its worst point. OCT (Off-Center + Tilt) is the sum of how far a card is Off-Center (OC) plus its Tilt (T). The Roger Staubach card below has a Horizontal OC ratio of 35/65 and is therefore off-center by 15% (65-50=15). The Horizontal Tilt is 3% so the card has a Horizontal OCT of 18% (15%+3%=18%).

Grading Stats ExampleOCT (Off-Center + Tilt)  (1972 Topps Roger Staubach)

Minimum Centering Requirements

With a few exceptions, the Dean’s Cards grading system uses the following thresholds for Off-Center, Tilt, and OCT to determine a card’s grade. Because of the way the human brain is wired, horizontal centering plays a slightly larger factor in determining the attractiveness (and grade) of a card. You will see this reflected in the charts below.


Off-Center Thresholds

Vertically Oriented Cards

Vert

Off-Center Score

Tilt

OCT

Grade

Vert

Horz

Total

Vert

Horz

Vert

Horz

9

9%

6%

11%

3%

2%

9%

6%

8

16%

12%

20%

5%

6%

16%

12%

7

25%

20%

30%

6%

7%

25%

20%

6

30%

25%

40%

7%

9%

30%

25%

5

35%

25%

40%

9%

12%

35%

30%

4

40%

35%

60%


14%

40%

35%

3





15%



2


16%



Horizontally Oriented Cards


Off-Center Score

Tilt

OCT

Grade

Vert

Horz

Total

Vert

Horz

Vert

Horz

9

6%

9%

11%

2%

3%

6%

9%

8

12%

16%

20%

5%

6%

12%

16%

7

20%

25%

30%

6%

7%

20%

25%

6

25%

30%

40%

7%

9%

25%

30%

5

30%

35%

50%

9%

12%

30%

35%

4

35%

40%

60%



35%

40%

3

50%

50%

75%



50%

50%

2








Eye Appeal

Eye appeal is typically a highly subjective way for human graders to adjust a card’s final grade based on overall attractiveness. Dean’s Eye Appeal metric is a custom calculation that ensures cards that barely meet several thresholds for a grade, and are therefore less attractive than most cards of that grade, are appropriately bumped down.

The Eye Appeal Score considers a card’s centering and corner scores as well as the grade assigned to the card by the software. This score is used to lower the grade of cards with lackluster qualities and assign a more appropriate grade. The Eye Appeal Score can only lower a card’s grade, not increase it.

For example, if a card barely achieves acceptable standards for its Worst Corner, Average Corner and centering scores for a particular grade, it’s probably less attractive than other cards with the same grade despite technically meeting the threshold. In addition, multiple flaws can compound to lower a card's grade.

Bonus for Well-Centered Cards

Due to the popularity of well-centered cards, our vintage card grading software awards cards that appear perfectly centered with a bonus of half a grade. This bonus is added to a card’s base grade.

Grading Stats ExampleWell-Centered bonus  (1952 Topps Duke Snider)

Rules for Well-Centered Bonuses

  1. Cards issued before 1945 with a base grade between 1.5 and 6 are eligible.

  2. Cards issued between 1945 and 1979 with a base grade between 1.5 and 7 are eligible.

  3. Cards issued after 1980 are not eligible for a Well-Centered Bonus because most already have great centering.

Well-Centered Thresholds

Vertically OrientedHorizontally Oriented
Max OC Vert9%Max OC Vert7%
Max OC Horz6%Max OC Horz10%
Max Total OC11%Max Total OC12%
Max Vert OTC9%Max Vert OCT8%
Max Horz OTC6%Max Horz OCT11%
Max Vert Tilt2%Max Vert Tilt3%
Max Horz Tilt3%Max Horz Tilt2%


Defects

After examining a card’s corners and centering, imperfections noted during the qualification process could lower the final grade. Various defects, or qualifiers, reduce or cap final grades. For example, our card grading software would give this Pete Maravich card a 6 (EX-MT) based on its corners and centering, but the final grade is capped at 3 (VG) due to a crease. See the full list below. 

Grading Stats ExampleDefects, or qualifiers, can lower the final grade.  (1972 Topps Pete Maravich)

Qualifier (Defects) Rules

  • Minor Flaws - Minor imperfections such as print dots, smudges, or dings on edges. Reduction of one grade for cards with base grade of VG/EX (4) and higher. No penalty for cards with base grade of VG (3) and lower.

  • Wrinkles - Paper wrinkles look like small creases but are only visible on the front of the card. Maximum grade of VG/EX (4).

  • Flaws - Similar issues as minor flaws but more severe. Maximum grade of VG/EX (4).

  • Major Flaws - Major issues like paper loss, heavy creasing, writing on the card, rips, pin holes, etc. Reduction of one grade; maximum grade of GOOD (2).

  • Rough Edges - Often occur when a card is produced. Reduction of one grade for cards with base grades of VG/EX (4) and higher.

  • Excess Tilt - Image on card tilted to a high degree. Reduction of one grade when Horizontal Tilt exceeds 7%.

  • Creases - Creases that are deep enough to be seen on the back of the card. Maximum grade of VG (3).

  • Stains on Front - Maximum grade of EX (5). Reduction of one grade for cards with base grade of VG (3) to EX/MT (6). Note: very light stains may be considered minor flaws.

  • Stains on Back - Reduction of one grade for cards with base grade of VG/EX (4) to NM (7). Maximum grade of EX/MT (6). Note: very light stains may be considered minor flaws.

  • Miscut - Miscut cards have either no border or show part of another card. Reduction of one grade; maximum grade of VG (3).

  • Marked Checklists - Maximum grade of FAIR (1.5).

  • Size - Vintage cards were cut from large printing sheets and vary in size. 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.

Grading the Backs of Sports Cards

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, centering can be as bad as 90/10 on the back without lowering the grade. Centering ratios for the back of cards are provided, when possible.

Grading Card BacksGrading Card Backs  (1969 Topps Nolan Ryan)

Other Grading Notes

The grading standards presented above are given as a guideline. Card designs vary greatly over the years and not all of our grading measurements can be applied to every set. We use our card grading software to automate the card grading process wherever possible, but some cards still need to be partially or completely graded by humans. Cards with a "Human Grade" qualifier at the bottom of the grading stats display received a human grade override.


Report this card

Thank you for your report.

This dialog will close automatically.

Please consider
leaving a review