Swapped card in a genuine holder: the checks

The checks

1. 01Read the record’s description in full. Year, set, card number, variety or parallel, serial number, autograph line, and any qualifier. CGC tells buyers to check the grade, the description and any warnings; the description is where a swap shows.
2. 02Match the serial number. A numbered card carries its number on the card itself. It must match the record and the label exactly. A card with no number in a slab whose record has one, or the reverse, is a reason to stop.
3. 03Match the version. A parallel’s colour, foil, logo and print run are on the card. The record names the version it graded. A base card in a holder labelled for a parallel, or a parallel in a holder labelled for the base, is a different card from the one on the record.
4. 04Match the images. Where the grader shows images, compare the fixed details: centring, corners, surface marks, print features and where the card sits (see the matching guide).
5. 05Look at the condition against the grade. The grade is the grader’s, and this guide is not a grading. But a card with damage plainly beyond what its grade allows is a reason to ask whether it is the card that was graded.
6. 06Read the holder. A swap needs the holder opened, or a holder that was never the grader’s. Run the seam and the corners (see the resealed slab guide).
7. 07Ask for the history, and write it down. Where the card has been since grading, from whom, in writing. Keep your lookup, your photographs and the comparison with the date.

What this check does not prove

• That the grade is right. A card that matches its record is the card the grader graded. Whether the grade was right is the grader’s question, not this check’s.
• Anything where there are no images. Without images, the description is all the record carries. A card that fits the description may still not be the card that was graded; the record should say the match was by description only.
• Who holds the card now. A cert records the card and the grade on the day it was graded. It says nothing about who has held the card since, or how it got to the seller.
• Ownership. A matching record does not show who owns the card or whether the seller can pass title to it. That is a question for the seller, in writing.
• What the card is worth. A grade is not a price. The lookup says nothing about value, and neither does this guide.