SINGAPORE:Under bright lights and high magnification, the corners are scrutinised, the surface scanned for the faintest scratch and the edges checked for symmetry.
Like gemstones, these highly collectible trading cards are being judged by tiny imperfections that could mean a difference of tens of thousands of dollars.
On most afternoons, this painstaking ritual plays out behind a glass counter, where Mr Fong Shi Wei, 36, can be found inspecting stacks of cards featuring Pokemon characters or sports personalities before they are sent abroad for professional grading.
Mr Fong is not a card grader – a title reserved only for a handful of establishments in the United States, Japan and South Korea that provide such services.
But in Singapore, the booming card collecting trend has fuelled a small but highly sought-after service known as "pre-grading", a solution that Mr Fong has gladly provided since founding Concept Grading in Singapore.
“This shows how crazy this stage of the hobby is at and it’s not stopping,” Mr Fong said.
As a pre-grader, Mr Fong's job is to assess the cards before they are sent for professional grading elsewhere. The overseas process that can take three months and cost at least S$35 per card – a small price to pay if a card is proven to be worth a hefty sum.
Nevertheless, the grading process could still get expensive quickly, especially given the fact that collectors often come to his shop with stacks of plastic sleeves and shoe boxes containing hundreds of ungraded trading cards.
Hence, pre-graders act like a filter – they provide an early assessment to help collectors decide which cards are worth submitting and which are unlikely to achieve a grade that justifies the expense. They also screen out lower-quality cards and help newer collectors better understand grading standards.
“We’re not the ones grading the cards, but we have experienced collectors working on our team that inspect the condition of the card and advise customers what should be sent for grading and what shouldn’t,” Mr Fong told CNA.
“So we look at the condition of the card and assess potential monetary value.”
Often, only cards in the top condition are sent to companies in the United States, Japan and South Korea for authentication and appraisal. Some notable firms are Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) and Beckett Grading Services (BGS).
The cards are then graded on a scale from one to ten depending on their condition, with ten being virtually perfect.
In October 2025, the value of these rare cards made headlines after the authorities said it was investigating a case of a 25-year-old man who had entered Singapore without declaring his cargo of assorted Pokemon trading cards worth more than S$30,000.
Rare cards are so in demand that a grade seven card can fetch eye-watering prices.
Mr Fong said he recalled how one customer handed him an old card he had found in storage – a 1997 signed basketball card featuring the late Kobe Bryant and likely worth more than S$90,000.
“Only 73 of these cards in the world,” he said.
Fong Shi Wei, founder of Concept Grading, inspecting a Pokemon card under a magnifying glass during the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
While many collectors want to grade their cards in hopes of maximising the card’s value, Mr Fong said there are also some who want to do so for sentimental reasons – they simply want their favourite trading cards to be assessed by others.
This was the case for the customer who walked in with the Kobe Bryant card.
“He didn’t know this card was going to be so expensive, but he bought the card because he liked the sportsman and how he played. It’s Kobe Bryant’s performance that made the card so expensive,” Mr Fong noted.
“Collectors are still collectors. They still appreciate the story, the art, the sportsman. They still want to collect something that has sentimental value to them.”
Jesslyn Wong, retail manager at 1Collectibles, showcases some NBA cards that have already been professionally graded, on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
The process of grading a card requires specialised skills and attention to fine detail, several pre-graders told CNA.
Ms Jesslyn Wong, retail manager at 1Collectibles, said when a card lands in her hands, there are four aspects she checks for: The surface, edges, corners and centring of the image.
“The border has to be equal on all sides. If the top is slightly thicker than the bottom, or the left is thicker than the right, that’ll affect the card’s overall grading.”
This happens as a consequence of factory defects, which can also cause jagged edges or images to appear bleached.
Customers browsing through the vast display of Pokemon cards on sale, at the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
Mr Mark Tan, founder of 1Collectibles, uses the same approach, saying that factory defects happen occasionally and that certain batches will have more defects.
“Therefore the 10 is a lot more desirable than the nine, because nine is more common,” he said.
While there is a standardised set of attributes that graders look out for, card grading is also a subjective process as not everyone can agree on how a card is scored, said Mr Tan.
Although rare, some cards receive a decimal point grade, such as an 8.5 rating.
“It would mean that it is almost as good to receive a nine, but it has some flaws”.
Apart from advising collectors on the value of their cards, they also assist customers with buying, selling, and trading collectibles. Some are also involved in livestream sales as well as local and international trading card events to reach out to a larger audience.
A card collector browsing through the vast display of Pokemon cards on sale, at the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
Once cards have been graded, they are sealed in a protective plastic case, also known as a slab, preventing the card from being tampered with after grading.
Despite this, some collectors do attempt to crack open the slab and resubmit the card, hoping to secure a higher grade the second time around.
“Some collectors believe that paying more will help them secure a better grade, but that isn’t true,” Ms Wong said, adding that she has even heard of cases where collectors slip cash into the package in hopes of receiving a more lenient assessment.
Professional card grading is offered by
“Branding and reputation are the most important and collectors want their cards to be graded by a company who can be trusted,” said Concept Grading’s Mr Fong. “That’s why the value of the card goes up after it is graded.”
1Collectibles’ Mr Tan agreed, adding that even between the US and Japan, there are “slight variations” in how cards are graded.
This is also why it makes little sense to have multiple grading agencies. "It becomes a lot more decentralised and it becomes a problem,” he said.
A NBA card that was priced at $1300 on display at the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
Over the past few years, card collecting in Singapore has evolved from a pastime for casual collectors into a more serious pursuit for enthusiasts and investors, to the extent that trading card conventions are often packed.
Collectors told CNA that apart from international releases such as Pokemon or National Basketball Association (NBA) cards, locally produced cards are also garnering a following.
One example is a series launched by the Football Association of Singapore and Playback Asia. They have designed cards capturing the moment the Lions made national sporting history when Shawal Anuar and Ilhan Fandi’s goals secured a 2–1 victory in the Asian Cup qualifier on Nov 18.
Card designs of Singapore footballers Shawal Anuar and Ilhan Fandi at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on Nov 18, 2025.
“Card collecting is becoming more of a culture and corporate companies are also looking at the opportunity to build inside this niche culture and niche movement,” said 1Collectibles’ Mr Tan.
“We need more Singaporeans caring about local athletes and local footballers, and we’re starting to see more of this happening.”
It can be hard for others to understand the appeal, because the hobby is ultimately a personal one: It is about capturing a moment in time that the collector can always be looked back on.
“People are often trying to 'buy back' their nostalgia and to relive how it felt to be a child again. That emotional pull has fuelled the resurgence of the hobby,” Mr Tan said.
To an enthusiast, the hobby is similar to collecting art, he said.
“So you have Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel back in the day, where they had a lot more space and a lot fewer people. Then you move into the Renaissance, where art pieces like the Mona Lisa or works by Monet are much smaller, maybe because space became an issue.”
“Now, cards are even smaller, but they’re still art pieces that remind you of a moment or evoke a memory or a story. I’m sure it’s within our lifetime that we’ll see cards in museums.”
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Like gemstones, these highly collectible trading cards are being judged by tiny imperfections that could mean a difference of tens of thousands of dollars.
On most afternoons, this painstaking ritual plays out behind a glass counter, where Mr Fong Shi Wei, 36, can be found inspecting stacks of cards featuring Pokemon characters or sports personalities before they are sent abroad for professional grading.
Mr Fong is not a card grader – a title reserved only for a handful of establishments in the United States, Japan and South Korea that provide such services.
But in Singapore, the booming card collecting trend has fuelled a small but highly sought-after service known as "pre-grading", a solution that Mr Fong has gladly provided since founding Concept Grading in Singapore.
“This shows how crazy this stage of the hobby is at and it’s not stopping,” Mr Fong said.
As a pre-grader, Mr Fong's job is to assess the cards before they are sent for professional grading elsewhere. The overseas process that can take three months and cost at least S$35 per card – a small price to pay if a card is proven to be worth a hefty sum.
Nevertheless, the grading process could still get expensive quickly, especially given the fact that collectors often come to his shop with stacks of plastic sleeves and shoe boxes containing hundreds of ungraded trading cards.
Hence, pre-graders act like a filter – they provide an early assessment to help collectors decide which cards are worth submitting and which are unlikely to achieve a grade that justifies the expense. They also screen out lower-quality cards and help newer collectors better understand grading standards.
“We’re not the ones grading the cards, but we have experienced collectors working on our team that inspect the condition of the card and advise customers what should be sent for grading and what shouldn’t,” Mr Fong told CNA.
“So we look at the condition of the card and assess potential monetary value.”
Often, only cards in the top condition are sent to companies in the United States, Japan and South Korea for authentication and appraisal. Some notable firms are Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) and Beckett Grading Services (BGS).
The cards are then graded on a scale from one to ten depending on their condition, with ten being virtually perfect.
In October 2025, the value of these rare cards made headlines after the authorities said it was investigating a case of a 25-year-old man who had entered Singapore without declaring his cargo of assorted Pokemon trading cards worth more than S$30,000.
Rare cards are so in demand that a grade seven card can fetch eye-watering prices.
Mr Fong said he recalled how one customer handed him an old card he had found in storage – a 1997 signed basketball card featuring the late Kobe Bryant and likely worth more than S$90,000.
“Only 73 of these cards in the world,” he said.
Fong Shi Wei, founder of Concept Grading, inspecting a Pokemon card under a magnifying glass during the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
While many collectors want to grade their cards in hopes of maximising the card’s value, Mr Fong said there are also some who want to do so for sentimental reasons – they simply want their favourite trading cards to be assessed by others.
This was the case for the customer who walked in with the Kobe Bryant card.
“He didn’t know this card was going to be so expensive, but he bought the card because he liked the sportsman and how he played. It’s Kobe Bryant’s performance that made the card so expensive,” Mr Fong noted.
“Collectors are still collectors. They still appreciate the story, the art, the sportsman. They still want to collect something that has sentimental value to them.”
Jesslyn Wong, retail manager at 1Collectibles, showcases some NBA cards that have already been professionally graded, on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
HOW A CARD IS APPRAISED
The process of grading a card requires specialised skills and attention to fine detail, several pre-graders told CNA.
Ms Jesslyn Wong, retail manager at 1Collectibles, said when a card lands in her hands, there are four aspects she checks for: The surface, edges, corners and centring of the image.
“The border has to be equal on all sides. If the top is slightly thicker than the bottom, or the left is thicker than the right, that’ll affect the card’s overall grading.”
This happens as a consequence of factory defects, which can also cause jagged edges or images to appear bleached.
Customers browsing through the vast display of Pokemon cards on sale, at the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
Mr Mark Tan, founder of 1Collectibles, uses the same approach, saying that factory defects happen occasionally and that certain batches will have more defects.
“Therefore the 10 is a lot more desirable than the nine, because nine is more common,” he said.
While there is a standardised set of attributes that graders look out for, card grading is also a subjective process as not everyone can agree on how a card is scored, said Mr Tan.
Although rare, some cards receive a decimal point grade, such as an 8.5 rating.
“It would mean that it is almost as good to receive a nine, but it has some flaws”.
Apart from advising collectors on the value of their cards, they also assist customers with buying, selling, and trading collectibles. Some are also involved in livestream sales as well as local and international trading card events to reach out to a larger audience.
A card collector browsing through the vast display of Pokemon cards on sale, at the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
STRICT STANDARDS
Once cards have been graded, they are sealed in a protective plastic case, also known as a slab, preventing the card from being tampered with after grading.
Despite this, some collectors do attempt to crack open the slab and resubmit the card, hoping to secure a higher grade the second time around.
“Some collectors believe that paying more will help them secure a better grade, but that isn’t true,” Ms Wong said, adding that she has even heard of cases where collectors slip cash into the package in hopes of receiving a more lenient assessment.
Professional card grading is offered by
“Branding and reputation are the most important and collectors want their cards to be graded by a company who can be trusted,” said Concept Grading’s Mr Fong. “That’s why the value of the card goes up after it is graded.”
1Collectibles’ Mr Tan agreed, adding that even between the US and Japan, there are “slight variations” in how cards are graded.
This is also why it makes little sense to have multiple grading agencies. "It becomes a lot more decentralised and it becomes a problem,” he said.
A NBA card that was priced at $1300 on display at the Cards Collectibles Asia 2025, in *SCAPE on Nov 16, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
SINGAPORE’S CARD COLLECTING SCENE
Over the past few years, card collecting in Singapore has evolved from a pastime for casual collectors into a more serious pursuit for enthusiasts and investors, to the extent that trading card conventions are often packed.
Collectors told CNA that apart from international releases such as Pokemon or National Basketball Association (NBA) cards, locally produced cards are also garnering a following.
One example is a series launched by the Football Association of Singapore and Playback Asia. They have designed cards capturing the moment the Lions made national sporting history when Shawal Anuar and Ilhan Fandi’s goals secured a 2–1 victory in the Asian Cup qualifier on Nov 18.
Card designs of Singapore footballers Shawal Anuar and Ilhan Fandi at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on Nov 18, 2025.
“Card collecting is becoming more of a culture and corporate companies are also looking at the opportunity to build inside this niche culture and niche movement,” said 1Collectibles’ Mr Tan.
“We need more Singaporeans caring about local athletes and local footballers, and we’re starting to see more of this happening.”
It can be hard for others to understand the appeal, because the hobby is ultimately a personal one: It is about capturing a moment in time that the collector can always be looked back on.
“People are often trying to 'buy back' their nostalgia and to relive how it felt to be a child again. That emotional pull has fuelled the resurgence of the hobby,” Mr Tan said.
To an enthusiast, the hobby is similar to collecting art, he said.
“So you have Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel back in the day, where they had a lot more space and a lot fewer people. Then you move into the Renaissance, where art pieces like the Mona Lisa or works by Monet are much smaller, maybe because space became an issue.”
“Now, cards are even smaller, but they’re still art pieces that remind you of a moment or evoke a memory or a story. I’m sure it’s within our lifetime that we’ll see cards in museums.”
Continue reading...