BGS final grade criteria

Grading Question
1

Hi, first time using BGS (Europe) for grading.
Whats the reason the final grade is 8.0 by the following:

Surface: 9.5 Centering: 8.5 Corners: 8.0 Edges: 8.0

So if you get all 8.0 you also get a final grade of 8.0 ?

2

Beckett Grading Services (BGS) uses a weighted formula rather than a simple average to determine the final grade of a card. Generally, the highest and lowest subgrades can impact the overall grade more than the middle ones.

How the Final Grade is Calculated:

  • Centering and Surface are often weighed slightly less than Corners and Edges, as the latter tend to have a greater impact on the overall grade.
  • The final grade is not an exact average but is instead weighted based on Beckett’s internal formula.

Breakdown of Your Example:

  • Surface: 9.5
  • Centering: 8.5
  • Corners: 8.0
  • Edges: 8.0

Since Corners and Edges are weighted more heavily, they drag the overall grade down. Even though the Surface subgrade is quite high (9.5), it’s not enough to raise the final grade significantly.

Why an 8.0 Final Grade?

  • The lower subgrades (8.0 for Corners and Edges) bring down the grade more than the higher subgrades (9.5 for Surface) can lift it.
  • The 8.5 Centering is slightly above average but doesn’t impact the grade as much as the weaker Corners and Edges.
  • The final score isn’t just an average; it’s determined by a proprietary formula.

If all subgrades were exactly 8.0, you would likely get an 8.0 final grade because no higher subgrades would offset it. However, since the Surface was high (9.5), it shows that a higher single subgrade doesn’t necessarily boost the final grade beyond a certain threshold.

2 Likes
3

Thanks for your reply.
In this case BGS should be transparent by giving a weight factor per criteria.

Internal formula is not transparent to my opinion.

4

It’s on their website, albeit not apparent from their current homepage

https://www.beckett.com/grading/scale

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5

I assume the following is an assumption as I cant find it with BGS:

  • Centering and Surface are often weighed slightly less than Corners and Edges, as the latter tend to have a greater impact on the overall grade.

Not sharing this by BGS(the algorithm used) gives me as a customer no tool to verify any human error( wrong input given to the algorithm) or an outdated weight factor.

Example about the weight factor for the Surface :

In the assumption Surface are often weighted slightly less than Corners and Edges.

In my case the graded cards are “Pokemon 1997 Tomy scratch cards”.

As collectors know the Surface of the back on those are the hardest part to get a 10 as of the nature of the card. So if this is not taken into account by BGS we have a mismatch on the weight factor under the assumption.

I know my view could be seen different by others and as an assumption also ,but the endgame would be that BGS algorithm and weight factors would become public.

In the meantime if anybody has the exact same grades as above please let me know your final grade :grinning:

Regards Marcel

6

Scratch cards are probably a small subsection of cards submitted honestly.

The above was given by chat gpt so there must be some info on the web somewhere that shows how they weight subgrades.

7

Couldt find anything on the web. If anybody know how BGS weight subgrades please let me know.Already asked BGS but no reaction.

8

With BGS the overall card grade will be no higher than the second lowest subgrade… Further, the card will rarely grade higher than a half point above the lowest subgrade.

With 2 8 subgrades you’ll receive a 8

1 Like
9

I asked myself the question in the past how some final grades are happening.
You could try calculating grades by using this formula. Not sure if its 100% accurate.

BGS Grade Calculation

Source: Here

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