Trading Card Grading
We grade to one standard.
Perfection.
A Vertex 10 means one thing: perfect. Perfectly centered, and flawless under magnification — no soft corner, no edge wear, no surface defect. Every card is judged on centering, corners, edges, and surface, and only the flawless reach the top. Most never do. That is the point.
of submissions earn a Vertex 10
independent graders per card
tolerance for a flaw at grade 10
The Scale
Ten grades. Only one is perfect.
The Vertex scale runs 1 to 10. Each whole and half point is defined, documented, and applied the same way to every card. There is no grade inflation here.
The Perfect 10
Four perfect subgrades. No exceptions.
A Vertex 10 is not awarded for a great card. It is awarded for a perfect one. Centering, corners, edges, and surface must each grade a 10 — independently verified — before the slab earns the Vertex seal.
Miss by a hair on any single criterion and the card caps at 9.5. Try it yourself.
Centering
Measured to the pixel on every border — front and back. 50/50 or it is not a 10.
Corners
Inspected under loupe and raking light. A single soft corner ends the run.
Edges
No chipping, no whitening, no nicks along any side of the card.
Surface
No print lines, scratches, dimples, or gloss breaks. Immaculate, magnified.
So close. A single subgrade below 10 caps the card at 9.5. The tenth is reserved for perfection.
The Slab
Sealed proof of perfection.
Every graded card is encapsulated in a UV-resistant, tamper-evident Vertex slab. The case is built so the verdict is unmistakable — you can tell a 10 across a room.
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Gold is reserved for the 10.
Only a Perfect 10 wears champagne-gold foil. Every other grade is struck in porcelain — the finish is as rare as the grade.
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Four subgrades, in the open.
Centering, corners, edges, and surface are printed on every slab. See exactly where a card stands — no black box, no inflation.
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Verifiable for life.
Each cert number and QR seal resolve to the full graded record and photos at vertexgrade.co.uk.
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Built to outlast the card.
Optically clear, UV-resistant polycarbonate, sonically welded and tamper-evident. The card never touches adhesive.
Where Grading Falls Short
The sector has a transparency problem.
Slow, silent, and unaccountable is the industry norm. We built Vertex to be the opposite — every part of the process is visible, documented, and stands behind itself.
Submit a card and hope — turnaround is a black box that can stretch for months.
✦Live turnaround
Every tier shows a real, current ETA and your live position in the queue. No indefinite waits, no silence.
You get a number. You never learn why.
✦The Report Card
Each grade ships with annotated high-resolution scans mapping every deduction across centering, corners, edges, and surface.
Counterfeit slabs and reholders fool buyers every day.
✦A digital twin
Every slab is paired with a tamper-proof digital certificate — tap or scan to verify authenticity and full ownership history.
Mis-grade a card and the grader just shrugs.
✦The Vertex Guarantee
If an independent re-grade disagrees with us by more than half a point, we refund the fee and buy the card at our stated value.
Digital Twin
Every slab has a digital twin.
A graded card is only as trustworthy as your ability to verify it. So every Vertex slab is paired with a digital certificate — a tamper-proof record that proves it's real, tracks who has owned it, and travels with the card for life.
✦Tap to verify
An embedded NFC chip and QR seal confirm the slab is genuine in one tap — no expertise required.
✦Provenance ledger
Every owner and sale is recorded. Buyers see an unbroken chain of custody back to the grading date.
✦Live market value
The certificate tracks the card's current market price from live sales data.
✦Transfers on sale
Ownership hands over digitally when the card sells — the twin follows the card forever.
Aurelion Drake
Genesis Set · 1998 · #001/151
Cert · VX-0000001
Perfect
Provenance
- 12 Mar 2026Graded — Vertex 10 (Perfect)
- 12 Mar 2026Encapsulated · Cert VX-0000001
- 18 Mar 2026Registered to first owner
- —Awaiting next transfer
Market value
£42,500
The Process
From your hands to a sealed verdict.
Submit
Register your cards and declared value online.
Authenticate
Every card is verified genuine before grading.
Grade
Three graders assess blind. Consensus, or it grades again.
Encapsulate
Sealed in a UV-resistant, tamper-evident slab.
Return
Tracked, insured, and back in your hands.
Pre-Grade · Free
Will it 10? Find out before you pay.
Most graders happily take your fee for a card that was never going to grade well. We won't. Answer four quick questions about your card and get an honest estimate — including when the smart move is to keep it raw.
Hold the card straight on. How even are the borders on the front?
Compare opposite sides — top vs bottom, left vs right.
Conditioning · Optional
We clean. We never alter.
Dust, lint, and fingerprints cost real surface points — and they're the easy ones to fix. Before grading, our conditioning service gently lifts loose surface contaminants so your card is judged on its true condition, not on a smudge.
Conditioning removes what shouldn't be on the card. It never changes the card. Trimming, pressing, and restoration are alterations — exactly what our graders are trained to catch. Any altered card is rejected and flagged on its certificate.
Only worth it when there's something on the surface to remove — it can't fix a flaw that's in the card itself.
What it does
- ✦Lifts surface dust and lint with anti-static tools
- ✦Removes fresh fingerprints and light smudges
- ✦Clears debris picked up from sleeves and the card well
- ✦Re-inspected under magnification, before and after
What we never do
- ✕No trimming or recutting
- ✕No pressing or flattening
- ✕No chemicals, solvents, or recoloring
- ✕No restoration of any kind
Service Tiers
Perfection, made affordable.
Honest, low per-card pricing — from just £6. Turnaround and handling change between tiers. The grading standard never does.
Standard
20 business days
Declared value up to £500
- ✦Full four-point subgrade
- ✦Sealed Vertex slab
- ✦Online cert lookup
Express
5 business days
Declared value up to £5,000
- ✦Everything in Standard
- ✦Priority queue
- ✦Insured return shipping
Pristine
2 business days
Declared value up to £50,000
- ✦White-glove handling
- ✦Senior grader review
- ✦Signature-required courier
Submit
Think your card is perfect? Prove it.
Join the waitlist for the next intake window. We will send your submission pack and a prepaid, insured shipping label.
No spam. We email once when intake opens.