Cardboard Journal's Take
FCG (Forensic Card Grading)
A boutique grader with a genuine point of view on eye appeal — but its slabs don't yet carry resale weight, so grade here for your own collection, not to sell.
What Sets Them Apart
An unusually specific process disclosure: grading under professional microscopes with adjustable magnification and multiple lighting settings, against a published scale with defined subgrade criteria, and an explicit statement that it does not manage population counts. One service level, $15, ten business days, backed by a money-back guarantee if that window is missed. New ownership since January 2026.
Tier
Our rating of how well the resale market actually recognises this grader.
Turnaround
10 days
money-back if missed
Backlog
None published
What They Grade
- Sports Cards
Marketplace Acceptance
Certificate lookup:Verify a cert →
eBay
FCG does not appear on eBay's professional grader filter list and is not covered by the Authenticity Guarantee, so its slabs receive neither grader searchability nor eBay buyer protection.
Auction houses
Not accepted as standard inventory at Goldin, Heritage or PWCC.
Card shops and general resale
Presence is still forming, consistent with a boutique founded in 2021. Its eye-appeal grading philosophy appeals to vintage collectors, but that is a preference among submitters rather than recognition among buyers.
This matches FCG's own positioning: a slab suited to a personal collection rather than to selling.
Pricing
One service level and one price: $15 per card at ten business days or less, with no upcharge for declared value, autographs or subgrades. FCG backs the window with a money-back guarantee if cards do not ship within ten business days of arriving. The simplicity is deliberate — there are no tiers to choose between. What it will currently accept is narrower than the price list suggests: as of 9 September 2026 submissions have resumed for sports cards from 1980 onward and for Pokémon only, with vintage and other categories to be reintroduced in phases under new ownership.
The Slab
A conventional clear holder of ordinary thickness, sitting close to PSA's footprint.
Example slab shown for reference — not a card I personally own.
The Label
SubgradesFour, on the label
The gold label with four printed subgrades follows Beckett's conventions closely enough to read as deliberate borrowing — the same visual promise of a grade you can interrogate, without the recognition that makes Beckett's version worth paying for.
Grader Use Cases
- Personal Collection
- Protection & Preservation
- Condition Documentation
Personal collections, protection and documentation, with a single tier and no decision to make. The turnaround guarantee is the practical draw.
Known Concerns
Founded 2021 and under new ownership since January 2026, so anything written about FCG before this year describes a different operation. That transition is still visibly in progress: the site currently accepts only 1980-and-newer sports cards and Pokémon, with vintage and remaining categories promised in phases. It publishes no population data and has attracted no meaningful independent coverage, leaving its consistency claims untested by anyone outside the company. That is not evidence of a problem — it is the absence of the track record that makes a slab hold value.
On The Wire
What the hobby is saying about FCG (Forensic Card Grading), with our read on what it changes for you.
New owners take over FCG and reset it as a $15 flat-rate grader
Cardboard Journal's TakeNew ownership resets the clock — judge it on slabs graded after January 2026, not before.
Sports Card Radio2026-08-30
History
Forensic Card Grading opened in 2021 in Mansfield, Texas, and deliberately went the opposite way from the technology-led entrants. Every card passes under magnification in front of three or more graders, with no imaging system casting a vote.
The philosophy follows from that. FCG weights eye appeal over strict measurement, which appeals to vintage collectors who don't think a mathematically-centred card is always the better-looking one. It competes on turnaround speed and bulk pricing rather than on brand recognition.
As a boutique operation it remains small, and its secondary-market presence is still forming.