Conservation of Playing Cards

These categories show the life cycle playing cards usually go through, when they are being used. Other defectives and mistakes must be declared separately and do not have an effect on these criteria. In particular, the following faults must always be added to the overall conservation:

There are three conservation groups your decks belong to: mint, used or worn-out. They are all subdivided. For the final classification, also the numerals 0 to 7 are used.

While in the mint group, there are no in-between ratings, in the used and the worn-out group you may use half point ratings as well. For example, you can rate your deck as 3-4 when you see it is more than slightly used, but is in good enough condition that has actually not reached the used stadium yet.

Mint Group

0 - Mint and sealed
When a deck still is in its original seal (either in closed cellophane wrap or has an unbroken tax stamp), there is no discussion. The deck deserves the condition "0" (mint and sealed), no matter in what condition the box may be (this must be declared separately).

To define the mint group, you best look at the sides of the entire deck. When none of the cards has those slight damages on the sides (bent-over edges), your deck belongs to the mint group.

1 - Mint
There are playing cards that are sold unsealed. When they were never removed from the original box or were just taken out for a scan or a brief look, they qualify as "1" (mint). The same applies for cards that originally were mint and sealed, but the seal is broken.

2 - Near mint
Such cards were never used for playing, but already show first traces of wear. Two criteria must be used to determine, if a deck is near mint. (1) When you hold your cards towards the light to reflect the surface, you can see slight scratches. (2) When you look at the sides of the entire deck, the sides are not white any more, but have a light gray colour. When either of the two criteria applies to your deck, then it is "2" (near mint).

Worn-out Group

Before you check if your deck belongs to the used group, you must verify if it is not worn-out. Cards sometimes get worn-out without running through all stadiums of usage. Depending on the quality of the cards, they get worn-out earlier or later. Some cards of very high card making quality never seem to get worn-out at all; others, even though they are not much used, are already worn-out. According our definition, cards are worn-out, as soon as colour from the printing is rubbed off due to friction (shuffling, playing, and/or sliding).

6 - Worn-out
On one or a few cards, first traces of rubbed-off colour can be seen. Such cards must be declared as "6" (worn-out).

7 - Heavily worn-out
Most or all cards have larger patches of rubbed-off colour. These cards have the condition "7" (heavily worn-out).

Example for rubbed off colour (see circle and arrow)

Used Group

All other card decks, which belong neither to the mint nor the worn-out group, have one of the used stadiums. For a first rough classification, look at the sides (best slightly spread out or staggered) again.

3 - Slightly used
Only a few cards have the slight damages at the sides. They qualify as "3" (slightly used).

First signs of damage at the sides.

4 - Used
Most or all cards have the slight damages at the sides. In some of the turned-over edges you see traces of black dirt. Such a deck has the classification "4" (used).

These cards are already well used.

5 - Much used
All sides are practically black of dirt in the slightly turned-over edges. When you look at the cards themselves, they are filthy as well. There is no doubt, such cards are "5" (much used).

When the sides are dark, the cards usually are much used.