Mid-grades are not raw.

We price slabs as slabs. A card in a holder is no longer a raw condition grade with extra plastic — it is a verified object with a serial, a population, and a mailer path.

The argument on the floor has been that 6–8 should trade at a discount to Near Mint raw. That treats authentication as a penalty. We take the other side: 6–8 should carry a 10–30% premium to NM raw because the object is now liquid, cased, and anti-counterfeit.

High-end 8.5–9.5 should sit a measured step under Gem 10, not in a free-fall. Discounting a 9 to raw NM is how a market talks itself out of inventory.

This is why every SLAB Pack carries a graded card, 8 or better.