Reference
Sports Card & Pawn Loan Glossary
Plain-English definitions for every term you'll encounter in card collecting and pawn lending.
21 terms
A professional assessment of a card's current fair market value, conducted by a certified specialist. CardPawn provides free appraisals as part of the loan application process.
One of the top three grading companies for sports cards and TCGs. Known for their sub-grade system (centering, corners, edges, surface) and their premium BGS 9.5 "Gem Mint" and BGS 10 "Pristine" labels.
Certified Guaranty Company — a grading service primarily known for Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and other TCGs. Also grades sealed collectibles.
An asset pledged to secure a loan. In card pawn loans, your cards are the collateral — held by the lender until the loan is repaid.
Failure to repay a loan per its agreed terms. In pawn lending, default typically results in forfeiture of the collateral cards to the lender.
The price at which a willing buyer and willing seller would complete a transaction in the open market, with neither under pressure to act. Used as the baseline for all CardPawn appraisals.
The highest PSA grade. Denotes a card with four perfectly sharp corners, perfect centering (55/45 or better), full original gloss, sharp focus, and no staining. Extremely rare for vintage cards.
The process by which a third-party professional service (PSA, BGS, SGC, CGC) authenticates a card's identity and assesses its condition on a numeric scale (typically 1–10), then encapsulates it in a tamper-evident holder (slab).
The percentage of an asset's appraised value that a lender will loan. CardPawn's LTV ranges from 50–70% depending on card type, grade, and market liquidity.
CardPawn's term for the monthly interest/fee charged on the outstanding loan principal. A flat percentage applied at the start of each 30-day period.
A Canadian card manufacturer (subsidiary of Topps) that produced the Canadian equivalents of Topps baseball and hockey sets from the 1960s through early 2000s. OPC cards are often more valuable than their Topps counterparts in Canadian markets.
A secured short-term loan where personal property (cards) is pledged as collateral. The borrower retains ownership; the lender holds the property. Upon repayment, the property is returned.
A database maintained by grading companies (PSA, BGS) showing how many of a specific card have been graded at each grade level. Low "pop" at a specific grade = higher scarcity = higher value.
The world's largest and most recognized grading service for sports cards and trading cards. Established 1991. A PSA 10 "Gem Mint" is the global gold standard.
An ungraded card — not encapsulated in a professional grading slab. Raw cards have subjectively estimated conditions (NM, EX, VG, etc.) and receive lower LTV ratios than graded equivalents.
A placeholder card manufacturers include when an autograph wasn't ready at production time. The holder redeems it for the actual autographed card. CardPawn does not accept unredeemed redemption cards.
A list of Magic: The Gathering cards that Wizards of the Coast has committed never to reprint. This permanent scarcity makes Reserved List cards ideal pawn collateral.
A respected grading company particularly popular for vintage (pre-1970) sports cards. Their "SGC 10 Pristine" label is coveted by vintage collectors.
Common term for a graded card in its professional, tamper-evident plastic enclosure. "My Gretzky is a slab" = it's been professionally graded and encased.
A rigid plastic card holder used to protect raw (ungraded) cards. Sliding the card in from the top — standard protection for valuable raw cards during shipping.
Upper Deck's branded rookie card series included in their annual NHL sets. Young Guns are the most collectible modern hockey rookie cards and a staple of card pawn applications.