Major Break In At Ace Grading – YouTuber Randolph Announces Livestream

What is Ace Grading?

Ace Grading grades card collectables in the same way you may see PSA or Becketts, rating cards' quality before encasing them in slabs to protect them. Many collectors see their cards graded as a way to authenticate their condition and boost their prices. In Tabletop Gaming, Trading Card Games are commonly graded, with rare, highly graded Pokemon or Magic: the Gathering Cards often fetching high amounts at auction. The company Director is YouTube content creator Andrew Shane, better known as Randolph, who has frequently communicated with his audience about Ace Grading's progress.

Ace Grading Break In

Ace Grading was allegedly broken into on the evening of Friday December 13th. According to the official statement, it was a targeted professional theft. "This was not a random or opportunistic crime;" it stated, "it was a calculated and targeted attack.". Online commentary suggested that more traditional high value items had been left behind, as well as other items that would have appealed to general theft, and instead, a host of cards were taken. As an active investigation with Thames Valley Police is ongoing, no further information has been released, however reports are that over £250,000 worth of theft took place. 

Ace Grading Compensation

Those affected by the theft, whose cards were in Ace Grading's custody at the time of the break in, will be compensated through Ace Grading's insurance, and have been contacted directly.

Some took to Reddit to dispute the amount that was offered, but it admittedly can be difficult to assign a value in this situation – raw cards (which are ungraded) have a high potential, but ungraded can be difficult to quantify. They also represent a loss of investment as their value often increases over the years. This also has to be justified to the insurance company, in an industry where market value changes frequently, and externally can be difficult to determine. It appears disputes have been handled and agreed personally. 

Randolph disputed these claims within an video update on YouTube yesterday, which shared the position of the company, his heartfelt thanks to the community for their support, but which also addressed areas of concern. Within it, he explained that he'd input £180,000 of his own money to help with compensation payments. and that 94% of payments at time of recording had been made directly by Ace Grading. It signposted more positivity than previous updates, which discussed how such a large theft could damage a company irreparably, but gave the impression Ace Grading is committed to bouncing back from the incident. 

Supporting Ace Grading

In an effort to recoup the personal £180,000, Randolph announced a live stream, which he encouraged his fans and Ace Grading supporters to take part in, hosted on WhatNot, a live streaming auction site where people can buy products during the stream. The cards being sold will be those from his personal collection.