Field notes · Cards · 19 October 2026
A cert number records the grade, not who holds the card
PSA says it deactivated the cert numbers of graded cards taken from a vehicle carrying orders back to customers. A cert shows what was graded, not where the card has been since.
In brief
On 17 October 2026 a collector posted an email from PSA saying a vehicle carrying finished orders was burglarized after leaving PSA's Southern California facility. The email named "a FedEx vehicle transporting PSA orders". PSA's statement to Heavy on 19 October said a "third-party shipping vehicle". PSA says it has deactivated the cert numbers of the items taken, alerted auction houses and marketplaces, and is working with the carrier and law enforcement. It is arranging compensation at fair market value, up to the maximum value declared for each item. PSA has not said how many orders were aboard, what they were worth, or when and where the burglary happened. Collectors have posted losses that PSA has not confirmed, and the reports we read carry no statement from FedEx.
The incident turns on what a cert number can carry. It records the card and the grade given on the day it was graded. It does not record who holds the card now. A deactivated number fails the lookup, and PSA's page gives no reason, only that it was "intentionally deactivated". Most cards carry no serial number of their own, so the slab is often the only traceable part. Once it is cracked, a raw card can be resold or graded again under a new number. Spending through sellers that ship is growing faster than spending overall: nonstore retailers, mostly online and mail-order sellers, had $124.3 billion in sales in September 2026, up 8.2% on a year earlier against 6.3% for all retail and food services, the Census Bureau's advance estimate of 15 October shows.
What it turns on
- What the number records. The card and the grade given on the day it was graded. Not who holds it now, and not where it has been since.
- A deactivated cert gives no reason. PSA's lookup shows the number as deactivated and the grade as unavailable. Theft, a counterfeit and an error look the same from outside.
- The handoff is a change of custody. These cards were taken on the way back to their owners. Each leg between grader, carrier and owner needs its own entry on the record.
What we do about it
- 01Check the grader's own lookup. Look the number up on the grader's site, not in a listing's screenshot. Match the card, grade and any images to the slab in hand.
- 02Ask where it has been. The chain of custody since grading: who held it, where, and on what dates. A gap is written down as a gap.
- 03Take care with recent returns. A card said to come from a recent PSA order that arrives raw, or under a new number, needs its history in writing before it moves again.
- 04Keep your own record. Cert number, the lookup result with its date, photographs front and back, and the dates received and shipped, kept together.
Check it yourself
Tell us what you need held, or proven. Write to hello@brich.house