What is considered Near Mint?

[jclouie]

What is considered Near Mint? people always talk about having cards Near Mint to Mint but what is considered Near Mint?

I thought Near Mint should at least have no dinged corners and sharp edges but is this definition too strict?

I get frustrated sometimes because when trading online or buying from ebay people say they have cards that are near mint and they end up sending you a card with a dinged corner (sometimes big, sometimes small).

[centrehice]

Near Mint

4 Razor Sharp Corners
Excellent Colour and Gloss
If there is a border, as near to 50/50 centreing both top and bottom and side to side - same on the card back. Only 50/50 centreing can really be considered Mint.
No surface dents, no machine pinches anywhere.
No whitening or colour fade of original dark corners
Crisp clean edges with no edge lifting




Many cards with borders that have 53/47 to 55/50 centreing, but the rest of the card perfect - are still Near Mint.

Cards that are OC (off-centre) can never be mint as the photo has not been centred on the card before it was cut.

Older cards that always came with a small flaw or something of a minor nature can easily fall into the Nrm category.


Any crease in any card, no matter what the nature makes the card VG at best, perhaps only Good . So many newer collectors just assume that because a card is old, it can still have a crease or rounded corners. Not so. Old cards still have to be scrutinized in the same manner as brand new ones.

[GHCHambone]

Beckett:
Near Mint 7
Centering: 65/35 both ways or better on front. 90/10 or better on back. Very slight diamond cutting is allowed.
Corners: Very minor wear on two or three corners is allowed.
Edges: Slight roughness, minor chipping or very minor notching is allowed.
Surface: A few noticeable print spots or minor speckling is allowed. Minor color or focus imperfections. Very minor border discoloration. A very minor wax stain on back. Solid gloss with a few minor scratches detectable upon close inspection. A few metallic print lines.

PSA:
NM 7: Near Mint
A PSA NM 7 is a card with just a slight surface wear visible upon close inspection. There may be slight fraying on some corners. Picture focus may be slightly out-of-register. A minor printing blemish is acceptable. Slight wax staining is acceptable on the back of the card only. Most of the original gloss is retained. Centering must be approximately 70/30 to 75/25 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the back.

[reoddai]

A lot of people use Nr-Mt/Mt to define "pack pulled". For most modern cards, this is a pretty good description. If you want to go into details, read below.

I like GHCHambone's description better than centrehice because centrehice's description sounds like "Gem Mint" to me. There isn't much room left in that description for a Near Mint card to ever be "Mint". After all, from the wording, its supposed to be "Near" mint, not mint.

You also want to be careful with how you use mint. The industry standards have 5 categories which use the term mint:
Ex-Mint - some defects obvious on casual inspection
Near Mint - no noticeable defects on casual inspection, but defects are obvious on close inspection
Near Mint / Mint - Close inspection reveal a couple of defects
Mint - single minor flaw on close inspection
Gem Mint - Perfect card, no flaws anywhere on close inspection

There's also some debate by collectors on the grade of a card. If you are dealing with someone who is super grade conscious, you either have to do one of two things. I like to use this website:
http://www.psacard.com/Services/PSAGradingStandards
Because its easy to read. Just do your best to grade it using that scale, send the person a link and say "my bet guess using this webpage is...."
OR
Just don't bother dealing with them because it can cause you a headache.

GL & Cheers,
reoddai

[Gallinator]

"Condition queens" drive me crazy...none of us like dinged corners but some people see a hint of fraying or a print mark (for pre-90s) and freak out.

I agree that in general, NM should mean "no noticeable defects upon casual inspection" - and not quite "pack fresh", which in my mind is what NM/M is describing (so, I agree with reoddai, essentially).

[rustyisin]

"condition queens" LOL
Whenever someone looks at one of my cards with a loope or magniying glass, or scrutiznes it for 10 minutes I raise the price by 50%.
These "queens" are not collectors...they're scavengers or bottom feeders. Combing card shows only for items to grade or flip online