Corner and edge wear inspection guide

Corners and edges are common places for grading risk because they are exposed during handling, packaging, sorting, and storage. They also create tricky photo problems: dust, glare, sleeve reflections, and compression can look like damage, while real whitening can disappear against a light background.

Inspect corners one at a time

Look for whitening, soft tips, bends, folds, lifts, crushed points, and tiny color breaks. Compare each corner with the opposite corner. If one point looks rounder, brighter, or raised, take a closer photo before deciding it is acceptable.

Check both front and back

A corner can look clean on the front and show whitening on the back. Back corners are especially important on cards with dark backs, where a tiny white spot is easier to see. If the back image is blurry, do not assume the back is clean.

Scan edges in sections

Move around the card slowly: top edge, right edge, bottom edge, left edge. Look for chips, color breaks, rough cuts, lifted layers, silvering, and small dents along the border. A single bright dot may be dust; a repeated line of bright spots may be edge wear or a rough cut.

Separate damage from photo artifacts

Glare usually moves when the card or light moves. Dust can often be removed or changes position between photos. True whitening or a chip stays in the same place and shape across angles. When the issue is important, take a second photo before making the submit/hold decision.

Use close-ups without losing context

Close-ups help for small defects, but they can exaggerate harmless texture or hide the overall card. Pair close-ups with a full-card photo. That lets you review the specific risk while still checking centering and overall presentation.

When to hold a card for more review

Hold or re-check when a corner has visible whitening, a back edge has repeated chips, a sleeve reflection makes the edge unclear, or the photo is too soft to distinguish dust from damage. The cost of a better photo is usually lower than the cost of submitting a card with avoidable uncertainty.