It doesn't represent a registered business, trademark, or actual grading authority. Here is exactly how that logo ends up on a label:
Blank Wholesale Slabs: Repackaging companies buy these empty, unbranded plastic slabs in massive bulk from overseas manufacturers (like on Alibaba or Amazon) for pennies apiece.
In-House Printing: The company putting together the novelty boxes designs a quick label on a computer. They slap a generic, official-looking chevron logo on it, type in the card's details, and add a fabricated grade like "Pristine 10.0+".
The Retail Loophole: This is a common tactic used by big-box retail distributors (the companies that supply the "Mystery Gems" or "Mystery Power Boxes" you see at places like Walmart or Meijer) or independent online sellers. By sealing a 10-cent card in a cheap plastic case with this custom logo, they can legally advertise that their mystery box contains a "Guaranteed Graded Card!" without actually having to pay a real grading company to evaluate it.
Ultimately, the logo is just a piece of graphic design meant to dress up a printed piece of paper and give the illusion of authority to an unsuspecting buyer.
It doesn't represent a registered business, trademark, or actual grading authority. Here is exactly how that logo ends up on a label:
Blank Wholesale Slabs: Repackaging companies buy these empty, unbranded plastic slabs in massive bulk from overseas manufacturers (like on Alibaba or Amazon) for pennies apiece.
In-House Printing: The company putting together the novelty boxes designs a quick label on a computer. They slap a generic, official-looking chevron logo on it, type in the card's details, and add a fabricated grade like "Pristine 10.0+".
The Retail Loophole: This is a common tactic used by big-box retail distributors (the companies that supply the "Mystery Gems" or "Mystery Power Boxes" you see at places like Walmart or Meijer) or independent online sellers. By sealing a 10-cent card in a cheap plastic case with this custom logo, they can legally advertise that their mystery box contains a "Guaranteed Graded Card!" without actually having to pay a real grading company to evaluate it.
Ultimately, the logo is just a piece of graphic design meant to dress up a printed piece of paper and give the illusion of authority to an unsuspecting buyer.
Like I explained several pages back. Near worthless card, fake graded for a mystery box.
Also, in reference to some other people's comments about some company or another being an up and coming grader. There has been a constant stream of new grading companies since the 1980s, none of them have stood the long term test of time. Only PSA and Beckett owned companies have stood the test of the time. Every other grading company ends up out of business with its grades no longer being trusted.
I have about as much faith in any other grading company as I do when the guys at the local card store try to explain why the newest card game is the hot new thing and is going to stick around. They never do. Only 3 CCG games have ever STUCK, Magic, Yugioh and Pokemon and that is it, and no one even plays Pokemon. I worked at a card store, I was at a card store today. The latest "Destined to crash and burn" anime card game always has more people playing it than pokemon does. Store is selling more pokemon cards than the latest Yugioh competitor, but those cards just walk out the door and don't go into the game room and get played.
Okay all. According to the auction house the cards were graded by a company called Rise Grading or Rise Grader. Needless to say, and as some predicted, I can find no presence of this entity on the web. The auction house basically avoided answering my request for additional info such as where they got their inventory from., which might help me narrow down my search. So things aren't looking good. While I continue to search, I am going tto send one of the cards in to be graded along with other items to see if the grading holds up. If it does, then my cards might be presorted for me and I can send in others if they have value. Oh well. LIve and learn. If I found out anything else I will update this feed if it hasn't been closed by the admin by then. Thanks for all the help
Yes, some people do indeed try to get an entire set graded. However, those graded sets tend to stay together.
I worked in card retail for a few years. If that card had a 10 from PSA it would be about $60, if it was from CGC, more like 30-40, but since it was graded by "Timmy's Off-Brand Grading Company, Conveniently located behind the 7-11" there just isn't much premium there.
The website for the company is premiercardgrading dot com.
While the label on the card uses PLG branding (Pristine Label Grading), the company is officially known and operates as Premier Card Grading (PCG). They offer several regional sites depending on your location.
Thanks for the info. However, PCG has said that the card isn't theirs and that their certification numbers don't start with a 1. According to the Auction House the cards were graded by RIse Grading. I have not been able to find any presence of them on the internet. I contacted the auction house again and they basically aren't being helpful. I was hoping they could at least give me a city and state, or the name of the company they got the collection from, but instead of telling me they can't give our that information or that they don't know, they just avoided the question all together and stated that it can be difficult to find things on the internet. Confusing the situation is that another reputable company has some sort of RISE cards that are not related to this, but definitely shows up on web searches thus clouding the waters a bit. Can you tell me why you thought this belonged to PCG? Did you recognize the logo or was it something else. Anyways, thank you for your input. I will keep searching.
Google AI deep dive gave me this once i cut the image down to just the tag..
This label is fromTAG Grading(Technical Authentication & Grading), a U.S.-based company that usesAI-powered technologyrather than human graders to evaluate trading cards.
TAG Grading +1
The three overlapping chevrons in the center of the label are the company's signature logo. Key features of their service include:
DIG Reports:By scanning the QR code on the back of the slab, collectors can access aDigital Image & Grading (DIG) Reportthat provides high-resolution images and a point-by-point breakdown of why a card received its specific grade.
TAG Score:While they use the standard 1–10 grading scale, they also offer a precise1000-point scoreto differentiate the "strength" of cards within the same grade (e.g., a "high" 10 vs. a "low" 10).
Pristine 10.0+:As shown on your label, this is their highest designation, reserved for cards that represent thetop 1%of those graded by the company.
TAG Grading +3
Would you like to know how thisPristine 10grade compares to aPSA 10orBeckett Black Labelin terms of market value?
Wow! That is good news for OP. TAG is an up and coming grader and is certainly better than some other no-name outfit. TAG uses AI for grading as opposed to humans and is supposedly getting better as time goes on. I just have never seen a TAG graded card before until today. Good job @funfactorychannel !
This did not turn out to be a TAG card. It might belong to another hard to find company called CAE Rise Grading which also grades by imaging. This company is also difficult to find out much about as well. The search continues.
Google AI deep dive gave me this once i cut the image down to just the tag..
This label is fromTAG Grading(Technical Authentication & Grading), a U.S.-based company that usesAI-powered technologyrather than human graders to evaluate trading cards.
TAG Grading +1
The three overlapping chevrons in the center of the label are the company's signature logo. Key features of their service include:
DIG Reports:By scanning the QR code on the back of the slab, collectors can access aDigital Image & Grading (DIG) Reportthat provides high-resolution images and a point-by-point breakdown of why a card received its specific grade.
TAG Score:While they use the standard 1–10 grading scale, they also offer a precise1000-point scoreto differentiate the "strength" of cards within the same grade (e.g., a "high" 10 vs. a "low" 10).
Pristine 10.0+:As shown on your label, this is their highest designation, reserved for cards that represent thetop 1%of those graded by the company.
TAG Grading +3
Would you like to know how thisPristine 10grade compares to aPSA 10orBeckett Black Labelin terms of market value?
I saw that as well, several days ago when this thread started.
The problem is, TAG does not use a "three chevron logo" and the slab has no resemblance at all to a TAG slab. Their slabs always have a QR code, which is not on @jewal-9896's slab. There are a lot of other, very obvious differences that say this is not a TAG slab. You can go to TAG's website to confirm this.
This situation is a good example of AI making stuff up. You always have to dig into the sources and references that AI used, to find out if the information is "real" or made up.
A real card-grading company would be known, and findable. There would be a company name on the slab. No company name, no searchable database, means it's just a protective slab. The grading on it is unreliable.
Thank you for this info. My only issue, and I will have to check with TAG is that their site says to scan the QR code on the back of the slab to confirm authenticity. None of my cards have a QR code. Otherwise, this seems to be good info and I will contact TAG to see what I can find.
Thank you for this info. My only issue, and I will have to check with TAG is that their site says to scan the QR code on the back of the slab to confirm authenticity. None of my cards have a QR code. Otherwise, this seems to be good info and I will contact TAG to see what I can find.
This card is not worth the value of shipping it, period. No-name grading companies add no value, they just mean that it now costs $5 to ship that $1 card instead of 73 cents. This item is basically a worthless product meant to specifically mislead and scam children and their parents.
Google AI deep dive gave me this once i cut the image down to just the tag..
This label is fromTAG Grading(Technical Authentication & Grading), a U.S.-based company that usesAI-powered technologyrather than human graders to evaluate trading cards.
I did the same thing and got the same result.
Buit I could not find a single TAG graded card with that label or that logo.
This did not turn out to be a TAG card. It turns out it may belong to a company called CAE RISE Grading. This company also grades cards via scns/computer imaging. But info on them is also scarce. I have a link to the company but all it provides is a blank splash page with a request for one to login. I tried to create an account, as often you can't do anything unless you have one, and was denied. No reason give, just denied. A friend also tried to create an account and got the same result. It is odd that a company that says they grade cards wouldn't want to be found. You would think they would want people to reach them easily for card submissions or, at the very least, to be able to certify cards purchased from them. I am in the early stage of checking this site out, but is is the only site that seems to correspond to the name. The fact that is is locked down so tightly is suspect. What good is a graded card if one can't verify it. At this point, since the site grades cards through computer imaging, I must deem the cards as worthless until computer imaged grades become mainstream and, even then, only if the company is respectable as well. I will still pursue this, if for no other reason, to let others know about it and what it might mean to them if they purchase a card with their logo/name on it.
My experience with reputable auction houses is that they expend little effort on large lots which are going to open low when sold at the end of an auction. There could be all sorts of quality issues with such lots, and may not be itemized or explicitly disclosed.
These lots often make their way into these auctions as part of a large consignment which is attractive to the auctioneer and constitute the bottom of the barrel.
Have I ever bought a bottom of the barrel lot? Sure have, but it comes with a belief that I know something the other bidders and the auctioneer do not know. And I might be right more often than wrong, if I am as smart as I think I am.
Have you tried any of the forums/chats on any of the known card grading service websites? You could also try checking that cert number on PSA or one of the others. Lastly, you could just email PSA or CGC to see if they recognize it. If you purchased it as part of a large lot, it's possible it slipped through even with a reputable auction house.
The card itself doesn't appear to be particularly valuable, is there a reason such a new basic (common) would have been graded? This is a genuine question, not snark.
Contrary to other people's opinions, common cards do get graded because there are people who want to have an entire graded collection. I understand that the card is technically of limited value, especially when ungraded. I myself have graded and sold common cards from other sets and they have sold reasonably well. Also many modern companies are now using the Pristine Grading as a sort of 10+. It is still a 10, but graded at a higher standard. I do understand that a common card graded by a no name company has almost no value. However, if the gradings are still accurate, then if one has a card of higher value, with a Pristine grading, it might be worth it to submit one to a grading company, along with other cards, just to see if the grading holds. If it does,then I might have a handful of cards that are sort of pregraded. Otherwise, I can either toss them in the garbage or sell them as is, A previous comment suggested these might be a gimmick and that these items were graded by a comic store that gave away mystery boxes with guaranteed graded cards. If they graded the cards themselves, this makes sense. The question remains is whether or not they had the right to grade them and were they following standard grading policy.? If they were authorized to grade, and if they followed standard grading protocol, then what I have is a handful of cards that have basically been presorted for me. I can pull out the expensive cards and have them regraded if I think the value will be worth the effort. I just want to do due diligence, obviously something I should have done before purchasing these items. But I assumed items from a reputable auction house would not be fake. My fault for assuming.
Thanks. That makes sense. So it would be a way to establish a baseline, basically, if I understand correctly.
I appreciate the explanation, you learn something new every day (or at least I do). It's one of the things I really enjoy about this board.
I hope you get the answer and can do you're hoping to. Worse comes to worst, you can tuck it away and see what the future holds.
If someone had told me back in the early 2000s that the pile of Pokemon Gameboy games (all in their cases) and the Gameboy that I threw out in a fit of pique because my then 11-12 year old son wouldn't stop playing them after lights out would be worth something, I would have laughed. I can still hear the sound of them bouncing down the trash chute when I think about it. Ugh.
I understand. I am still haunted by the ghosts of Willie Mays, and other famous baseball players, whose cards died a horrible death in the spokes of my bicycle. And then there were the comics cut up to order X-Ray Vision glasses or Sea Creatures. No, I'm not crying...it's just my soul leaking.
I have sent the image out to several sites. I have had a couple of people give me the name of the compay they believe it is, but I have not been able to verify that anyone owned this label. Still checking.
Ok, here is the thing in the room everyone is missing.
No need to worry about the card being fake, as that card is worth all of $2.57 and it is "graded" by a no-name company. No one with any brains spends the money to grade $2 cards, it doesn't make any sense. No one truly graded that card. That is the sort of product churned out in massive numbers to populate various Pokemon mystery boxes and products. Those slabs cost less than a $1 each in bulk on Amazon, probably 50 cents each in bulk from a distributor.
So, here is how this works. Scam mystery box company also owns scam grading company. Cards like the one shown are only worth about 12 cents in bulk, the slab costs them 50 cents, and another 2 cents for the label and 25 cents labor to put them on and they have for $1 produced a product that they can put in their "Mystery Box" that promises graded cards. Only Timmy buys those boxes. Timmy is not going to crack that worthless card out of the case and spend $25 to have Beckett regrade it to see what it really is, he is just going to keep it.
So basically what you have there is not worth the value of shipping. The card itself is real, but the grading is not.
Ok, here is the thing in the room everyone is missing.
No need to worry about the card being fake, as that card is worth all of $2.57 and it is "graded" by a no-name company. No one with any brains spends the money to grade $2 cards, it doesn't make any sense. No one truly graded that card. That is the sort of product churned out in massive numbers to populate various Pokemon mystery boxes and products. Those slabs cost less than a $1 each in bulk on Amazon, probably 50 cents each in bulk from a distributor.
So, here is how this works. Scam mystery box company also owns scam grading company. Cards like the one shown are only worth about 12 cents in bulk, the slab costs them 50 cents, and another 2 cents for the label and 25 cents labor to put them on and they have for $1 produced a product that they can put in their "Mystery Box" that promises graded cards. Only Timmy buys those boxes. Timmy is not going to crack that worthless card out of the case and spend $25 to have Beckett regrade it to see what it really is, he is just going to keep it.
So basically what you have there is not worth the value of shipping. The card itself is real, but the grading is not.
I think we have a winner!! This pretty well covers it.
This explanation makes sense as the auction also contained a large number of items that I would associate with a comic business. But as I have received messages naming the company that made them, I am going to follow up and try to verify the source. Yes, people do grade common cards, and they do sell, as some collectors want their entire collection to be of a certain grade. Obviously those people have more money than the rest of us as collecting graded commons is both tedious and expensive. Thank you for your input. I am trying to find out if the company who graded them was authorized to do so. If the grades they provided are based on the same standards as the other reputable companies then what I have is a handful of card that have been presorted. If the grade is trustworthy, I can pick and choose which ones I want to send in to be regraded. IE...if a card is a rare and somewhat valuable card, and the grading follows industry standards, I can them make a decision as to whether or not to have them regraded. While this may not be worth doing for most of the cards, if the Pristine rating holds, given that several reputable companies are now using that grade as the new rating that is higher than Gem Mint, it might be worth sending in a single card or two to see if the grading holds. The cost of doing so is minimal, particularly if send the card in with a routine shipment. If said card holds its rating, then it might be worth something. I do agree that it is unlikely that most cards will be worth regrading. Meanwhile, I have contacted the auction house to see if they can provide me either the graders contact name/info or the name of the company they got their inventory from so I can possibly contact them to see if they self graded. As I said, everything you mentioned seems to fit the scenario, but I will continue searching to see if I can verify this stuff one way or another. Thanks for your experienced input.
Both "Pristine" and "10.0+" looks pretty made-up to me...
Ditto. How can you have 10.0+ on a 10-point scale? Unless someone changed the scale like they have with GPAs, this alone seems suspect enough to give that one a pass.
Also, don't current (that's a 2025 card, no?) graded cards typically have a barcode?
Hopefully one of our card experts can give you more insight.
From what I have read concerning current grading, two other very reputable companies are using the Pristine scale for cards that still fall into the 10 point range. As it is explained, Gem MInt is a card that visually looks good enough to be rated 10.0. To achieve a Pristine rating, the card is magnified to the point where even minor flaws, not normally visible to the human eye, might be seen. This means the card is technically better. Technically, if a 9 and 9.5 can exist, so should a 10 and a 10.5. I do agree with your assessment that in today's world, the cards should have a better label with hologram and bar codes. I have had two people tell me the card comes from two different companies but have been unable to verify that the card comes from either one. One company I can find and the card does not show up on their authentication check. The other company while I have seen proof of its existence, I have been unable to find a website for it. Wait, not entirely true, I did find one that was in China and the site was in Chinese text, so I don't think the cards came from there. All I can do is my due diligence and see what the experts can tell me. We'll see how it goes.
You will have an issue selling those under the current grading if you did not know their origin prior to buying them yourself. If the company is not known or recognizable, neither is the grading they represent. Meaning - there is no basis of trust for a buyer to believe valuation or authenticity exists.
Counterfeit product, especially for Pokemon, is large & expansive. The label looks like something I could print off my own printer at home. I hope you did not purchase them assuming the slab alone guaranteed valuation.
If you bought them without verifying what they were, please do not try to profit off ur mistake & having another get involved. I would have required documentation prior to buying them. Get a refund, if you can.
These items were purchased from a large auction house in Texas. Auction houses don't normally traffic in fake cards, As you may have seen below, several people claim to recognize the logo but I have been unable to confirm/verify their belief. I am well aware that an unknown grader might be an issue. However, I have also found out that there are a lot of grading companies that I have never heard of, some very reputable. If I was only interested in making a profit off of bogus cards, do you really think I'd be posting on a trusted website and trying to find out if the card is valid or not. And, I do have one up for sale with a clear comment that I do not know who the grader is nd if anyone recognizes it to send me an email so I can update the listing. If they turn out to be worthless, then such is life. But again, auction houses rarely traffic in known fakes as it would really damage their reputation.
These items were purchased from a large auction house in Texas. Auction houses don't normally traffic in fake cards
No one said they were fake cards, they just said they might be fake grading slabs.
If as you claim the big auction houses normally verify the grading slabs of the cards they sell, then the auction house will be able to tell you how they authenticated the grading slabs and thus where they came from.
Ok...I have had two different companies suggested. I have not, as of yet, been able to confirm these companies use this logo, nor could I verify the certification number on either site. In the case of PGL I have not been able to find a site that is functioning much less being able to check certification. Can someone provide the necessary info for confirming this logo and to do certification? I have acquired a bunch of these cards at an auction and would like to list thie with the correct info, assuming I can verify the correct site. Thanks in advance.
Ok...I have had two different companies suggested. I have not, as of yet, been able to confirm these companies use this logo, nor could I verify the certification number on either site. In the case of PGL I have not been able to find a site that is functioning much less being able to check certification. Can someone provide the necessary info for confirming this logo and to do certification? I have acquired a bunch of these cards at an auction and would like to list thie with the correct info, assuming I can verify the correct site. Thanks in advance.
Since you do not know the origin, it is possible that someone slabbed this themselves and printed out labels to make it look like they were graded.
I agree with your assessment, but the cards were sold to me by a reputable auction house and they do not normally traffic in fakes. Not good for their reputation. Can't wait to see how it goes.
I am unable to find any info on this company. Did you recognize the logo? The web seems to have very little on this company and no website that I can find for verification. Can you provide any other info that might help me? Thanks in advance.
robbie31415
·5 months agoHere is what my AI gave me
It doesn't represent a registered business, trademark, or actual grading authority. Here is exactly how that logo ends up on a label:
Blank Wholesale Slabs: Repackaging companies buy these empty, unbranded plastic slabs in massive bulk from overseas manufacturers (like on Alibaba or Amazon) for pennies apiece.
In-House Printing: The company putting together the novelty boxes designs a quick label on a computer. They slap a generic, official-looking chevron logo on it, type in the card's details, and add a fabricated grade like "Pristine 10.0+".
The Retail Loophole: This is a common tactic used by big-box retail distributors (the companies that supply the "Mystery Gems" or "Mystery Power Boxes" you see at places like Walmart or Meijer) or independent online sellers. By sealing a 10-cent card in a cheap plastic case with this custom logo, they can legally advertise that their mystery box contains a "Guaranteed Graded Card!" without actually having to pay a real grading company to evaluate it.
Ultimately, the logo is just a piece of graphic design meant to dress up a printed piece of paper and give the illusion of authority to an unsuspecting buyer.
onefootflipper
·5 months agoLike I explained several pages back. Near worthless card, fake graded for a mystery box.
Also, in reference to some other people's comments about some company or another being an up and coming grader. There has been a constant stream of new grading companies since the 1980s, none of them have stood the long term test of time. Only PSA and Beckett owned companies have stood the test of the time. Every other grading company ends up out of business with its grades no longer being trusted.
I have about as much faith in any other grading company as I do when the guys at the local card store try to explain why the newest card game is the hot new thing and is going to stick around. They never do. Only 3 CCG games have ever STUCK, Magic, Yugioh and Pokemon and that is it, and no one even plays Pokemon. I worked at a card store, I was at a card store today. The latest "Destined to crash and burn" anime card game always has more people playing it than pokemon does. Store is selling more pokemon cards than the latest Yugioh competitor, but those cards just walk out the door and don't go into the game room and get played.
simba6
·5 months agoNo real company would leave their name off.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoOkay all. According to the auction house the cards were graded by a company called Rise Grading or Rise Grader. Needless to say, and as some predicted, I can find no presence of this entity on the web. The auction house basically avoided answering my request for additional info such as where they got their inventory from., which might help me narrow down my search. So things aren't looking good. While I continue to search, I am going tto send one of the cards in to be graded along with other items to see if the grading holds up. If it does, then my cards might be presorted for me and I can send in others if they have value. Oh well. LIve and learn. If I found out anything else I will update this feed if it hasn't been closed by the admin by then. Thanks for all the help
onefootflipper
·5 months agoYes, some people do indeed try to get an entire set graded. However, those graded sets tend to stay together.
I worked in card retail for a few years. If that card had a 10 from PSA it would be about $60, if it was from CGC, more like 30-40, but since it was graded by "Timmy's Off-Brand Grading Company, Conveniently located behind the 7-11" there just isn't much premium there.
topnotchtomes
·5 months agoAccording to the Google AI -
The website for the company is premiercardgrading dot com.
While the label on the card uses PLG branding (Pristine Label Grading), the company is officially known and operates as Premier Card Grading (PCG). They offer several regional sites depending on your location.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoThank you. I will look into this.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoThanks for the info. However, PCG has said that the card isn't theirs and that their certification numbers don't start with a 1. According to the Auction House the cards were graded by RIse Grading. I have not been able to find any presence of them on the internet. I contacted the auction house again and they basically aren't being helpful. I was hoping they could at least give me a city and state, or the name of the company they got the collection from, but instead of telling me they can't give our that information or that they don't know, they just avoided the question all together and stated that it can be difficult to find things on the internet. Confusing the situation is that another reputable company has some sort of RISE cards that are not related to this, but definitely shows up on web searches thus clouding the waters a bit. Can you tell me why you thought this belonged to PCG? Did you recognize the logo or was it something else. Anyways, thank you for your input. I will keep searching.
funfactorychannel
·5 months agoGoogle AI deep dive gave me this once i cut the image down to just the tag..
TAG Grading +1
TAG Grading +3antflan77
·5 months agoWow! That is good news for OP. TAG is an up and coming grader and is certainly better than some other no-name outfit. TAG uses AI for grading as opposed to humans and is supposedly getting better as time goes on. I just have never seen a TAG graded card before until today. Good job @funfactorychannel !
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoThis did not turn out to be a TAG card. It might belong to another hard to find company called CAE Rise Grading which also grades by imaging. This company is also difficult to find out much about as well. The search continues.
lacemaker3
·5 months agoI saw that as well, several days ago when this thread started.
The problem is, TAG does not use a "three chevron logo" and the slab has no resemblance at all to a TAG slab. Their slabs always have a QR code, which is not on @jewal-9896's slab. There are a lot of other, very obvious differences that say this is not a TAG slab. You can go to TAG's website to confirm this.
This situation is a good example of AI making stuff up. You always have to dig into the sources and references that AI used, to find out if the information is "real" or made up.
A real card-grading company would be known, and findable. There would be a company name on the slab. No company name, no searchable database, means it's just a protective slab. The grading on it is unreliable.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoThank you for this info. My only issue, and I will have to check with TAG is that their site says to scan the QR code on the back of the slab to confirm authenticity. None of my cards have a QR code. Otherwise, this seems to be good info and I will contact TAG to see what I can find.
onefootflipper
·5 months agoThis card is not worth the value of shipping it, period. No-name grading companies add no value, they just mean that it now costs $5 to ship that $1 card instead of 73 cents. This item is basically a worthless product meant to specifically mislead and scam children and their parents.
luckythewinner
·5 months agoI did the same thing and got the same result.
Buit I could not find a single TAG graded card with that label or that logo.
AI is not always right.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoAI was wrong about this being a TAG card.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoThis did not turn out to be a TAG card. It turns out it may belong to a company called CAE RISE Grading. This company also grades cards via scns/computer imaging. But info on them is also scarce. I have a link to the company but all it provides is a blank splash page with a request for one to login. I tried to create an account, as often you can't do anything unless you have one, and was denied. No reason give, just denied. A friend also tried to create an account and got the same result. It is odd that a company that says they grade cards wouldn't want to be found. You would think they would want people to reach them easily for card submissions or, at the very least, to be able to certify cards purchased from them. I am in the early stage of checking this site out, but is is the only site that seems to correspond to the name. The fact that is is locked down so tightly is suspect. What good is a graded card if one can't verify it. At this point, since the site grades cards through computer imaging, I must deem the cards as worthless until computer imaged grades become mainstream and, even then, only if the company is respectable as well. I will still pursue this, if for no other reason, to let others know about it and what it might mean to them if they purchase a card with their logo/name on it.
tobaccocardyahoo
·5 months agoMy experience with reputable auction houses is that they expend little effort on large lots which are going to open low when sold at the end of an auction. There could be all sorts of quality issues with such lots, and may not be itemized or explicitly disclosed.
These lots often make their way into these auctions as part of a large consignment which is attractive to the auctioneer and constitute the bottom of the barrel.
Have I ever bought a bottom of the barrel lot? Sure have, but it comes with a belief that I know something the other bidders and the auctioneer do not know. And I might be right more often than wrong, if I am as smart as I think I am.
tarotfindsandmore
·5 months agoHave you tried any of the forums/chats on any of the known card grading service websites? You could also try checking that cert number on PSA or one of the others. Lastly, you could just email PSA or CGC to see if they recognize it. If you purchased it as part of a large lot, it's possible it slipped through even with a reputable auction house.
The card itself doesn't appear to be particularly valuable, is there a reason such a new basic (common) would have been graded? This is a genuine question, not snark.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoContrary to other people's opinions, common cards do get graded because there are people who want to have an entire graded collection. I understand that the card is technically of limited value, especially when ungraded. I myself have graded and sold common cards from other sets and they have sold reasonably well. Also many modern companies are now using the Pristine Grading as a sort of 10+. It is still a 10, but graded at a higher standard. I do understand that a common card graded by a no name company has almost no value. However, if the gradings are still accurate, then if one has a card of higher value, with a Pristine grading, it might be worth it to submit one to a grading company, along with other cards, just to see if the grading holds. If it does,then I might have a handful of cards that are sort of pregraded. Otherwise, I can either toss them in the garbage or sell them as is, A previous comment suggested these might be a gimmick and that these items were graded by a comic store that gave away mystery boxes with guaranteed graded cards. If they graded the cards themselves, this makes sense. The question remains is whether or not they had the right to grade them and were they following standard grading policy.? If they were authorized to grade, and if they followed standard grading protocol, then what I have is a handful of cards that have basically been presorted for me. I can pull out the expensive cards and have them regraded if I think the value will be worth the effort. I just want to do due diligence, obviously something I should have done before purchasing these items. But I assumed items from a reputable auction house would not be fake. My fault for assuming.
tarotfindsandmore
·5 months agoThanks. That makes sense. So it would be a way to establish a baseline, basically, if I understand correctly.
I appreciate the explanation, you learn something new every day (or at least I do). It's one of the things I really enjoy about this board.
I hope you get the answer and can do you're hoping to. Worse comes to worst, you can tuck it away and see what the future holds.
If someone had told me back in the early 2000s that the pile of Pokemon Gameboy games (all in their cases) and the Gameboy that I threw out in a fit of pique because my then 11-12 year old son wouldn't stop playing them after lights out would be worth something, I would have laughed. I can still hear the sound of them bouncing down the trash chute when I think about it. Ugh.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoI understand. I am still haunted by the ghosts of Willie Mays, and other famous baseball players, whose cards died a horrible death in the spokes of my bicycle. And then there were the comics cut up to order X-Ray Vision glasses or Sea Creatures. No, I'm not crying...it's just my soul leaking.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoI have sent the image out to several sites. I have had a couple of people give me the name of the compay they believe it is, but I have not been able to verify that anyone owned this label. Still checking.
onefootflipper
·5 months agoOk, here is the thing in the room everyone is missing.
No need to worry about the card being fake, as that card is worth all of $2.57 and it is "graded" by a no-name company. No one with any brains spends the money to grade $2 cards, it doesn't make any sense. No one truly graded that card. That is the sort of product churned out in massive numbers to populate various Pokemon mystery boxes and products. Those slabs cost less than a $1 each in bulk on Amazon, probably 50 cents each in bulk from a distributor.
So, here is how this works. Scam mystery box company also owns scam grading company. Cards like the one shown are only worth about 12 cents in bulk, the slab costs them 50 cents, and another 2 cents for the label and 25 cents labor to put them on and they have for $1 produced a product that they can put in their "Mystery Box" that promises graded cards. Only Timmy buys those boxes. Timmy is not going to crack that worthless card out of the case and spend $25 to have Beckett regrade it to see what it really is, he is just going to keep it.
So basically what you have there is not worth the value of shipping. The card itself is real, but the grading is not.
biggymoe
·5 months agoI think we have a winner!! This pretty well covers it.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoThis explanation makes sense as the auction also contained a large number of items that I would associate with a comic business. But as I have received messages naming the company that made them, I am going to follow up and try to verify the source. Yes, people do grade common cards, and they do sell, as some collectors want their entire collection to be of a certain grade. Obviously those people have more money than the rest of us as collecting graded commons is both tedious and expensive. Thank you for your input. I am trying to find out if the company who graded them was authorized to do so. If the grades they provided are based on the same standards as the other reputable companies then what I have is a handful of card that have been presorted. If the grade is trustworthy, I can pick and choose which ones I want to send in to be regraded. IE...if a card is a rare and somewhat valuable card, and the grading follows industry standards, I can them make a decision as to whether or not to have them regraded. While this may not be worth doing for most of the cards, if the Pristine rating holds, given that several reputable companies are now using that grade as the new rating that is higher than Gem Mint, it might be worth sending in a single card or two to see if the grading holds. The cost of doing so is minimal, particularly if send the card in with a routine shipment. If said card holds its rating, then it might be worth something. I do agree that it is unlikely that most cards will be worth regrading. Meanwhile, I have contacted the auction house to see if they can provide me either the graders contact name/info or the name of the company they got their inventory from so I can possibly contact them to see if they self graded. As I said, everything you mentioned seems to fit the scenario, but I will continue searching to see if I can verify this stuff one way or another. Thanks for your experienced input.
annadryl
·5 months agoBoth "Pristine" and "10.0+" looks pretty made-up to me...
tarotfindsandmore
·5 months agoDitto. How can you have 10.0+ on a 10-point scale? Unless someone changed the scale like they have with GPAs, this alone seems suspect enough to give that one a pass.
Also, don't current (that's a 2025 card, no?) graded cards typically have a barcode?
Hopefully one of our card experts can give you more insight.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoFrom what I have read concerning current grading, two other very reputable companies are using the Pristine scale for cards that still fall into the 10 point range. As it is explained, Gem MInt is a card that visually looks good enough to be rated 10.0. To achieve a Pristine rating, the card is magnified to the point where even minor flaws, not normally visible to the human eye, might be seen. This means the card is technically better. Technically, if a 9 and 9.5 can exist, so should a 10 and a 10.5. I do agree with your assessment that in today's world, the cards should have a better label with hologram and bar codes. I have had two people tell me the card comes from two different companies but have been unable to verify that the card comes from either one. One company I can find and the card does not show up on their authentication check. The other company while I have seen proof of its existence, I have been unable to find a website for it. Wait, not entirely true, I did find one that was in China and the site was in Chinese text, so I don't think the cards came from there. All I can do is my due diligence and see what the experts can tell me. We'll see how it goes.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoMight be, might not. Item came from a reputable auction house and those places don't normally traffic in fake cards
kalyoth
·5 months agoYou will have an issue selling those under the current grading if you did not know their origin prior to buying them yourself. If the company is not known or recognizable, neither is the grading they represent. Meaning - there is no basis of trust for a buyer to believe valuation or authenticity exists.
Counterfeit product, especially for Pokemon, is large & expansive. The label looks like something I could print off my own printer at home. I hope you did not purchase them assuming the slab alone guaranteed valuation.
If you bought them without verifying what they were, please do not try to profit off ur mistake & having another get involved. I would have required documentation prior to buying them. Get a refund, if you can.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoThese items were purchased from a large auction house in Texas. Auction houses don't normally traffic in fake cards, As you may have seen below, several people claim to recognize the logo but I have been unable to confirm/verify their belief. I am well aware that an unknown grader might be an issue. However, I have also found out that there are a lot of grading companies that I have never heard of, some very reputable. If I was only interested in making a profit off of bogus cards, do you really think I'd be posting on a trusted website and trying to find out if the card is valid or not. And, I do have one up for sale with a clear comment that I do not know who the grader is nd if anyone recognizes it to send me an email so I can update the listing. If they turn out to be worthless, then such is life. But again, auction houses rarely traffic in known fakes as it would really damage their reputation.
luckythewinner
·5 months agoNo one said they were fake cards, they just said they might be fake grading slabs.
If as you claim the big auction houses normally verify the grading slabs of the cards they sell, then the auction house will be able to tell you how they authenticated the grading slabs and thus where they came from.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoOk...I have had two different companies suggested. I have not, as of yet, been able to confirm these companies use this logo, nor could I verify the certification number on either site. In the case of PGL I have not been able to find a site that is functioning much less being able to check certification. Can someone provide the necessary info for confirming this logo and to do certification? I have acquired a bunch of these cards at an auction and would like to list thie with the correct info, assuming I can verify the correct site. Thanks in advance.
luckythewinner
·5 months agoSince you do not know the origin, it is possible that someone slabbed this themselves and printed out labels to make it look like they were graded.
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoI agree with your assessment, but the cards were sold to me by a reputable auction house and they do not normally traffic in fakes. Not good for their reputation. Can't wait to see how it goes.
topnotchtomes
·5 months agoPLG (Pristine Label Grading)
jewal-9896
OP5 months agoI am unable to find any info on this company. Did you recognize the logo? The web seems to have very little on this company and no website that I can find for verification. Can you provide any other info that might help me? Thanks in advance.