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Glossary
Collectibles terms, explained
Short, plain definitions of the words you'll see on product pages and spec sheets. Each one links to a guide when there's more to know.
B
- Black Label
- Beckett's Pristine 10 where all four subgrades are 10. One of the rarest labels in the hobby. Read the guide →
- Booster box
- A sealed box of booster packs. Most English Pokémon booster boxes hold 36 packs. Read the guide →
C
- Centering
- How evenly the borders frame a card's image, expressed as a ratio such as 55/45. Read the guide →
- COA
- Certificate of authenticity. Its value depends entirely on who issued it. Read the guide →
- Comps
- Recent sold prices for the same card and grade, used to value a card. Read the guide →
E
- ETB
- Elite Trainer Box: a Pokémon product with 9 packs (11 in the Pokémon Center edition) plus sleeves, dice and other accessories. Read the guide →
G
- Gem Mint
- A grade of 10 (or 9.5 at Beckett) for a card in near-perfect condition. Read the guide →
H
- Hit
- A valuable insert in a pack, such as an autograph, relic or low-numbered parallel.
- Hobby box
- A sports card box sold mainly through hobby shops, usually with more guaranteed hits than retail boxes.
L
- LOA
- Letter of authenticity: a full written opinion from an authenticator, generally stronger than a sticker review. Read the guide →
N
- Numbered card
- A card stamped with a serial number such as 12/99, showing how many were made. Read the guide →
O
- One-touch
- A two-piece magnetic holder that fully encloses a card for display. Read the guide →
P
- Parallel
- A variation of a base card with a different color, finish or serial numbering. Read the guide →
- Penny sleeve
- A thin, soft plastic sleeve that is the first layer of protection for any card. Read the guide →
- Pop report
- A grading company's count of how many copies of a card it has graded at each grade.
- Pristine
- The top grade at Beckett, CGC and SGC, above Gem Mint, for a card that looks flawless under magnification. Read the guide →
- Pt (point)
- A measure of card thickness used to size toploaders and one-touch holders. Read the guide →
R
- Raw card
- A card that hasn't been graded or slabbed.
- Resealed
- Sealed product that has been opened and re-wrapped to look new. A common scam. Read the guide →
- Rookie card
- A player's first card in a licensed set, often the most collected card of their career.
S
- Semi-rigid
- A flexible card holder, also called a card saver, preferred by grading companies for submissions. Read the guide →
- Slab
- The sealed, tamper-evident plastic holder a grading company puts a graded card in. Read the guide →
- Subgrades
- Separate scores for centering, corners, edges and surface, shown on Beckett labels. Read the guide →
T
- Toploader
- A rigid plastic holder that keeps a sleeved card flat. Standard cards fit 35pt toploaders. Read the guide →