The case, defined

A slab is the sealed, tamper-evident plastic case a grading company encases a card in after grading it. It protects the card, displays it, and carries a label with the card’s details, grade, and a unique certification number.

What the label tells you

The label shows the year, set, player or character, card number, the grade (1–10), the grading company, and the cert number you can verify on the grader’s site. That information is the card’s identity for valuation and insurance.

Why slabbing matters

Authentication and a locked condition make a slab more liquid and usually more valuable than the same card raw. Add a slab to Slabline by scanning its label and it reads the grader and cert, then values the card from real comps.