Chain of custody for cards, in plain words

How to keep one

1. 01Start with the identity. The grader, the cert number and the grader’s lookup result with its date, and photographs of the slab front and back.
2. 02Write down every handoff. Each time the card changes hands: from whom, to whom, the date, and how it moved (in person, by carrier with tracking, into or out of a vault).
3. 03Photograph it at each handoff. Front and back, label in focus, each time it arrives and each time it leaves. The photographs show the slab was the same slab at each step.
4. 04Record gaps as gaps. If nobody knows where the card was for a stretch, the record says so, with the dates. A gap written down is honest; a gap filled in is not.
5. 05Keep it together. One file per card: the identity, the handoffs, the photographs and any receipts. It travels with the card when the card moves.

What this check does not prove

• Ownership on its own. Who holds a card and who owns it are often different parties, such as a vault holding for an owner. A good chain records both, and says which is which.
• Anything not written down. A chain is only as complete as the entries in it. What happened between entries is unknown until someone records it.
• What the card is worth. A grade is not a price. The lookup says nothing about value, and neither does this guide.