Guides · Method · Updated 20 Oct 2026

What a PSA, CGC, BGS or SGC cert number does and doesn’t prove

A cert number is an index into the grader’s own database. Looked up on the grader’s page, it returns what the grader recorded under that number, and nothing more. Here is the full list of what it does and does not prove.

The short answer

A cert number is an index into the grader’s own database. Typed into the grader’s own lookup, it returns what the grader recorded under that number: the card as described, the grade on the day, and on some graders the images and any warning. That is what it proves: that the grader holds a record under that number.

It does not prove that the slab in front of you is the one on the record, that the holder is intact, that the material in a relic window is what the label implies, where the card has been, or who owns it. Each of those is a separate check, and each has its own guide.

What the number does

01Names a record. The number is unique to one record at one grader. The same digits at another grader are a different record, so the slab’s grader and its number go together.
02Describes the card as graded. The record carries the grader’s description: player or character, year, set, card number, variety or parallel, and on some labels a serial number or an autograph line. The description is what the slab has to match.
03Carries the grade on the day. The grade was given once, on the day the grader saw the card. The record does not re-grade the card as it ages, and it does not see the holder after it leaves the grader.
04May show images. PSA says its SecureScan images are front and back scans of the encapsulated item, uploaded to cert verification. CGC says every card is imaged in high resolution after encapsulation and the images open from its lookup. Where images exist, they are the strongest part of the record.
05May carry a warning, or be switched off. CGC tells buyers to enter the number to check the grade, the description and any published warnings. PSA’s lookup shows a switched-off number as intentionally deactivated, with the grade unavailable. Read the whole record, not the grade alone.
06Can be copied. A number is public the moment it is printed on a label or shown in a listing. It can be typed on another label, and the record it points to does not change. The lookup checks the number; it cannot check the label the number came from.

What this check does not prove

That the slab in hand is the one graded. The lookup checks a number. A label can be printed to copy a real one, so the card, the label and any images on the record have to match the slab in front of you.
That the holder is intact. The record shows the card at sealing. It does not know whether the holder has been opened since. The seam, the corners and the fit are a separate check.
The material in a relic window. CGC’s guarantee says it does not guarantee the authenticity of additive features, and its red memorabilia label carries no guarantee of authenticity or grade. The patch behind the window is not what the number describes.
An autograph on the card. CGC says the grade of an autograph is not guaranteed, and that authenticity is not guaranteed for pack-pulled or manufacturer-certified signatures on most label types. Read the label’s own line on the signature.
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.

Sources

PSA, FAQ: the tamper-evident holder, cert verification, SecureScan images and the PSA app, read 20 Oct 2026.
CGC Cards, the holder and label (welded case, label security features, imaging after encapsulation), read 20 Oct 2026.
CGC Cards, the CGC guarantee (active certs, tampered holders, additive features, autographs), read 20 Oct 2026.
SGC, cert code lookup, read 19 Oct 2026.
PSA cert lookup, an unrelated deactivated number, for how a deactivated record reads, read 19 Oct 2026.
Beckett, grading card lookup, behind a bot check on 20 Oct 2026.

PSA’s cert verification and Beckett’s lookup were behind a bot check on 20 October 2026, so the lines about them come from PSA’s FAQ and from pages read on 19 October. Beckett publishes no readable page on what its record carries, so this guide says nothing about it beyond the lookup.

A guide to how records work, and not an authentication, grading, appraisal or valuation of any item. It describes patterns, never a particular cert, card or seller. Grader names belong to their owners, who do not endorse this page. Brich House verifies and records, and never buys, sells or holds.

Free cert check

Check a PSA, CGC, Beckett or SGC cert.

Enter the number from the label. You see what our watch holds on it and get a link to the grader’s own record. No account.

Open the cert check

At the source

Each grader’s own cert lookup.

The grader’s page is its record of what it graded. Look the number up there yourself, not in a screenshot.

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