CGC Grading Scale Explained

CGC grades cards on a 10-point scale in half-point steps, from Pristine 10 at the top down to Poor 1 at the bottom, with Gem Mint 10 sitting immediately below Pristine 10. The two tens are the part worth understanding before anything else, because they share a number and do not share a market.

CGC describes a Pristine 10 as "a virtually flawless card to the naked eye" and reserves the label for cards flawless under 10-times magnification, with 50/50 centering and flawless color and registration. A Gem Mint 10 is defined by CGC as "a card that has received a 10 grade overall; however, one of the grading criteria does not meet the requirements of a Pristine 10". So a Gem Mint 10 is a genuine ten that fell short on exactly one of the four criteria CGC assesses.

CGC assesses four criteria and can report them as subgrades on the label: centering, surface, corners and edges. The overall grade is not a simple average of them — a single weak criterion caps the card. That relationship is exactly what separates CGC's two tens: the legacy Perfect 10 designation required all four subgrades to be 10, and CGC retired it to make room for Pristine 10 at the apex of the scale.

For a submitter, the practical consequence is that you should look at a card the way the subgrades do, one criterion at a time, rather than forming a general impression. Three of the four are judgment calls under good light. Centering is measurable, which is why it is the one to check with a tool — see best card centering tools.

• Authentic (AU) — the card is genuine but cannot receive a numeric grade.
• Authentic Altered (AA) — genuine, but altered. Trimming and recoloring land here, and the designation is permanent.
• Authentic ART (ART) — custom art cards from verified artists.

An AA designation is the outcome worth fearing more than a low number. A 4 is a condition statement about a card that may still be collectible; an Altered label is a permanent note on the slab that affects every future sale. If a card has any history you are unsure of, that risk belongs in your decision about whether to submit it at all.

The two scales share the 1-to-10 range and the broad adjectives, and differ in two ways that matter commercially. First, CGC uses half grades throughout and publishes plus designations such as Mint+ 9.5 and NM/Mint+ 8.5; PSA's half grades are not part of its standard public scale in the same way. Second, CGC splits the top into Pristine 10 and Gem Mint 10, where PSA's top numeric grade is a single 10.

That split is not cosmetic. A Pristine 10 is scarcer than a Gem Mint 10 by construction, and the market prices the two labels differently even though both read "10". If you are comparing graded comparables before submitting, check which ten you are looking at. PSA's own ladder is set out in PSA grading scale explained, and the broader company comparison in best card grading company and PSA vs CGC.

Three practical rules fall out of the table. Below 8, the grade is mostly a condition record rather than a value multiplier on modern cards — the premium lives at 9 and above, which is why what cards are worth grading spends its time on screening rather than on the scale. A visible crease caps you at 4.5 or below, so creased modern cards are not submission candidates at any tier. And corners decide more grades than anything else you can see without a tool, because corner wear appears explicitly in every band from 9 down to 3.

If the card clears those hurdles, the next questions are cost and queue: CGC grading cost for the tier table and CGC turnaround times for how long each one is estimated to take.