A PCG 10 is our highest grade — reserved for a card that presents as flawless across all four grading criteria: centering, corners, edges, and surface. If your card earns it, you can slab it for a flat $15.
The PCG 10 is the grade everyone is chasing when they submit a card. It’s the equivalent of what most companies call Gem Mint — the cleanest possible condition a trading card can hold. Here’s what earns one, how we verify it, and exactly what you pay if your card lands on the right side of the line.
What does a PCG 10 actually look like?
A PCG 10 is the rare combination of all four grading criteria coming out clean:
- Centering is strong on the front and reasonable on the back, with no obvious bias to one side.
- Corners are sharp — no softening, no whitening, no rounding visible to the naked eye or under magnification.
- Edges are clean and smooth — no whitening from handling, no nicks, no chipping.
- Surface is unblemished — no scratches, no print lines, no indentations, no gloss issues, no print spots.
A flaw on any one of those four can pull a card down a full grade. That’s why most cards people are sure should grade a 10 come back as 8 or 9 instead. It’s also why an honest grade matters — guessing wrong is expensive at the legacy graders.
See what each grade from 1 to 10 means →
How does PCG decide what earns a 10?
We grade every card against the same four-criteria standard, every time. Each of the four C’s is scored 0–10, and the combined score out of 40 determines the grade — a PCG 10 requires a 39 or higher, so one weak category can’t hide behind three strong ones. Three things make our process different:
- Consistency. Same four C’s, same standard, every card. We came out of medical-device manufacturing — quality and process control aren’t optional, and we brought that mindset to every card we touch.
- Photo evidence on anything below a 10. If your card lands at a 9 or below, we send you photos of exactly what held it back. The grade is never a mystery.
- You decide what happens next. Like the grade? Slab it. Don’t? We ship it back, free, exactly as we received it.
See the full step-by-step process →
What’s the difference between a PCG 10 and a card below 10?
Two things change at the 10/below-10 boundary: the label on the slab, and the cost to slab it.
| Grade | What it means | Cost to grade | Cost to slab |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCG 10 | Essentially flawless — our top grade | $1 | $15 |
| Below 10 | Any grade from 1–9 | $1 | $10 |
| Pass on slabbing | You don’t like the grade | $1 | Free return |
The grading fee is the same flat $1 either way — declared value doesn’t change it, and we don’t charge by turnaround tier. The only choice you make is whether you want the card in a slab once you see the grade. See the full pricing page →
How do I get a PCG 10 slab on my card?
- Start a submission and tell us what you’re sending.
- Pack and ship — penny sleeve, semi-rigid holder, prepaid return label.
- We grade it for $1 against the four-criteria standard.
- You see the grade. If it’s a PCG 10, you can slab it for $15. If it’s below, you can slab it for $10 or take it back raw — your call.
How to ship cards to PCG → · Should you grade that card? →
An honest note on resale
We owe you straight talk here. PCG is a newer grading company, and our slabs don’t yet carry the secondary-market recognition that PSA’s do. A PCG 10 won’t move at the same premium a PSA 10 does on most resale markets — not yet. We’re earning that recognition one honest grade at a time.
What a PCG 10 does give you, right now:
- A verified Gem Mint condition record, judged against the same four C’s the rest of the industry uses.
- Tamper-evident protection in a clean, modern slab.
- A cheap, no-gamble way to confirm a card’s grade — $1 to find out, $15 to lock it in if you like it.
That’s the right product if you want to learn what your cards actually grade, protect what matters to you, or test the waters before sending a card to a legacy grader at $20–$65 a pop.
Grade a card for $1 — slab the PCG 10s
Find out if your card earns a 10 before you commit a dime to slabbing. Pay only if you like the grade. Free return if you don’t.
Start a submission → · See full pricing → · How the grading scale works →