GRADING VS. AUTHENTICATION: What’s the Difference?

Before an item can be graded, it has to be authenticated.

But what does “authentic” mean? Simply put, it’s a confirmation that the item is genuine, original, and accurately described. For a card, it means that your 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card came from the original production run distributed at the time, and not from one of the numerous official or unofficial (read: “forged”) reprints that were released into the marketplace after the price of the original went sky-high. For an autograph, it means that your photo was really signed in person by Joe DiMaggio, and not by his secretary, an automated signing device (known generally as “autopens”), or a random forger. The core purpose of authentication is to protect the value of authentic collectibles by detecting and flagging counterfeits in the marketplace.

So then, what does “grading” mean? It’s an assessment of quality, based on the item’s condition. No grader will bother grading an item they can’t authenticate; so, the baseline for any grading scale is that, at minimum, you have an authentic card or autograph deserving of further review. Each grader has its own criteria, which you can find in our article on where to send your cards for grading. Based on these criteria, the grader will assign a 1-10 rating where 1 is barely acceptable (“Poor” in traditional card language) and 10 is perfection (“Gem Mint,” “Pristine,” and other words are used here). Some use half points, others don’t; some complicate it even further by using half points at some grade levels and not at others. Some previously used scales other than 1-10 (older SCG slabs come to mind), but at this point the 1-10 rating scale has become a market standard and is used across companies.

You can also grade autographs. Should you? That depends on the item, and also on your preferences as a collector. Many collectors (myself included) are perfectly happy with autographs that are authenticated but not graded.

One of my favorites is a partial team ball from the 1989 Cubs, that includes announcers Harry Caray and Steve Stone. So many people handled that ball, and it’s so smeared up… but do I care? Not one bit. I think it’s cool as hell, and whether a grader thinks that Harry’s signature is a 2 or a 4 or whatever… no thanks.

On the other hand, if you have a single signed Mickey Mantle ball that looks better than any others you can find online, and you want to see if you can squeeze out some extra money on the sale by having the autograph graded – go ahead. It’s usually an extra fee in addition to the authentication fee, but for high-demand items where there’s a clear relationship between condition and price, it’s perfectly rational to capture the extra value that grading can bring. But for most people with most autographs in most situations, authentication will suffice.

Want one more wrinkle? Sometimes, you’ll see slabbed cards that are labeled “Authentic” without having a numerical grade. What’s that all about? Well… watch out for those cards.

A card only gets slabbed as “Authentic” if (1) there’s some defect or alteration serious enough to prevent the grader from assigning a grade, or (2) the submitter asked for it to be slabbed as “Authentic” only, and with no numerical grade. Why would someone do that? See point #1 – if a collector knows that a card has problems, they may request the “Authentic” label to avoid other qualifiers on the label (like “trimmed,” “marked,” “defect,” etc.). Either way, if you see a slabbed card without a numbered grade, apply an extra layer of scrutiny – or steer clear entirely. Even though “authentic” is a positive label for autographs, when you’re dealing with cards, merely “authentic” is a big red flag.