Slab

A slab is a trading card that has been professionally graded and sealed inside a hard, tamper-proof plastic case by a third-party grading company such as PSA, BGS, or CGC. The term comes from the rigid plastic enclosure itself, which resembles a small slab. Each slab includes a label displaying the card’s identity, grade, certification number, and the grading company’s branding. Once a card is slabbed, it is protected from physical damage and its authenticated condition is permanently recorded.

Slabbed cards command significantly higher prices than their raw counterparts, particularly at the top end of the grading scale. A PSA 10 or BGS 10 Black Label can sell for many multiples of the raw card’s value because the grade provides a trusted, standardized assessment of condition. The slab also protects the card from further wear, making it ideal for long-term holding or display. For high-value cards, being slabbed is essentially a prerequisite for serious buyers who need assurance about authenticity and condition.

In the CardDeckr marketplace, slabbed cards are tagged with their grading company and grade, making it easy to filter and search for specific graded cards. Our portfolio tracker also distinguishes between raw and slabbed copies, applying the appropriate pricing data to each. When scanning a slabbed card with our AI scanner, CardDeckr can read the slab label to automatically pull the certification number, grade, and card details.