Best Persian Cards to Grade
The Persian cards worth grading, ranked by expected profit per submission — every grade outcome weighted by how often the card actually receives it — after current grading fees. The PSA 10 best case is shown on every row but does not decide the order. Top pick: Rocket's Persian ex (Unseen Forces) at an expected +$1,046.
Ranked by expected profit 9
| # | Card | Raw | PSA 9 | PSA 10 | Cost | Best case | Gem rate | Expected | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Expected +$1,046 per submission: 4.1% of 1,083 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($20,000), and a PSA 9 ($1,410) still clears the $1,399 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $180 | $1,410 | $20,000 | $1,219 | +$18,601 | 4.1% | +$1,046 | 1,083 high |
| 2 | Expected +$182 per submission: 3% of 692 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($8,000), and a PSA 9 ($125) still clears the $741 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $42 | $125 | $8,000 | $699 | +$7,259 | 3% | +$182 | 692 high |
| 3 | Expected +$36 per submission: 35.5% of 110 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($295), and only a PSA 10 covers the $103 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $20 | $59 | $295 | $83 | +$192 | 35.5% | +$36 | 110 high |
| 4 | Expected +$15 per submission: 52.9% of 272 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($185), and only a PSA 10 covers the $97 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $15 | $32 | $185 | $82 | +$88 | 52.9% | +$15 | 272 high |
| 5 | Expected +$10 per submission: 0.9% of 3,198 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($7,750), and a PSA 9 ($205) still clears the $762 you have in it. Confidence high on that sample. | $65 | $205 | $7,750 | $697 | +$6,989 | 0.9% | +$10 | 3,198 high |
| 6 | Expected +$3 per submission: 39.3% of 303 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($220), and only a PSA 10 covers the $101 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $19 | $37 | $220 | $82 | +$119 | 39.3% | +$3 | 303 high |
| 7 | Expected loss −$14 per submission: 35.1% of 10,375 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($264), and only a PSA 10 covers the $152 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $69 | $70 | $264 | $83 | +$112 | 35.1% | −$14 | 10,375 high |
| 8 | Expected loss −$20 per submission: 51.5% of 169 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($112), and only a PSA 10 covers the $88 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $7 | $24 | $112 | $81 | +$23 | 51.5% | −$20 | 169 high |
| 9 | Expected loss −$23 per submission: 54.7% of 307 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($104), and only a PSA 10 covers the $88 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $7 | $22 | $104 | $81 | +$16 | 54.7% | −$23 | 307 high |
Best case only — no gem-rate evidence 1
Fewer than 10 graded copies in the PSA and CGC population reports. They clear the grading cost if they gem — that is all the numbers support.
| # | Card | Raw | PSA 9 | PSA 10 | Cost | Best case | Gem rate | Expected | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $116 | — | $13,500 | $1,154 | +$12,230 | — | — | none <10 |
Expected = every grade outcome weighted by its share of the card's graded population, minus the raw price and the grading cost (PSA tier fee for the graded value plus ~$20 round-trip shipping, fees as of 2026-09-26). Best case is the PSA 10 leg alone. Gem rates come from a self-selected population — collectors grade their cleanest copies — so read them as an upper bound. Raw is a blended market price, not a sale of your copy. Full method and filters on the grading index.
How to read the Persian ranking
Every Persian card listed here clears one bar: its PSA 10 price beats its raw price by more than the cost of grading it. 10 Persian printings pass. 9 of them (90%) have a gem-rate sample of at least ten graded copies in the population reports, and 6 of those keep a positive expected value once every grade outcome is weighted by how often the card actually receives it.
The order is expected profit, not the PSA 10 best case, which rewards the widest raw-to-gem gap whether the card gems one time in two or one in fifty. Here the top row, the Rocket's Persian ex from Unseen Forces, gems 4.1% of the time across 1,083 graded copies: +$1,046 is what a long run of submissions would average, $18,601 is what one lucky copy returns.
The median gem rate across the sampled Persian cards is 35.5%. Roughly one submitted copy in 3 came back PSA 10, and most rows here need that PSA 10 to cover raw price plus fee, so the gem rate decides whether a submission pays. Of the 9 ranked cards, 3 still cover raw price plus fee at PSA 9, 6 need a 10 to break even and 3 lose money on expectation. 9 rest on a hundred or more graded copies.
1 card sits below the ranking with a best case only, fewer than ten graded copies.
Before you submit a Persian card
Grading pays on condition. The four things every grader scores — centering, corners, edges and surface — can be checked at home before paying a fee, and a copy that is visibly off-centre or has a whitened corner will not gem whatever the population says. Those gem rates come from a self-selected population of clean copies, so a random copy does worse.
The cost column assumes a PSA submission at the tier covering the card's PSA 10 value, fees as of 2026-09-26, and raw is CardTrack's blended near-mint price, not a sale of your copy: pay more, or hold a lighter copy, and the break-even moves against you. Test a card with your own numbers in the ROI calculator, see the printings that fail the bar on the Persian card list, or see how gem-mint premiums run across the whole catalogue on the PSA premium index.