AGS passed Beckett on TCG volume with a fully automated grade

Passing Beckett on TCG volume is the first hard evidence that collectors will accept a machine grade at scale, and it is worth separating that from whether the machine grades well.

The argument for automation is repeatability. The same card scanned twice returns the same grade, which is precisely what human grading cannot promise and precisely the complaint every collector has about resubmissions. Around 28 million pixels a card and surface height mapped in about ten seconds a face is a genuinely different measurement, not a faster version of the old one.

The argument against is that a grade is a social object. It is worth what the next buyer accepts, and volume in one category is not the same as acceptance everywhere. Check that your buyer takes a machine grade before you commit a card that matters.