Three numbers decide whether a case fits your card, and buyers routinely read only one of them. PT is how thick a card the holder takes. The cavity is how big a card it takes. The footprint is whether the thing will sit on your shelf next to the others. A case can be right on the first and wrong on the second.
Quick answer
Read PT for thickness, the cavity for card size, and the footprint for storage. A standard trading card is 63 × 88 mm and about 0.3 mm thick; 35 PT is the rating that covers it. Our own case, the CS Ingot 35 Press-Fit Rigid Card Case, is 35 PT with a 67 × 92 mm cavity inside a 104.7 × 80 × 5.5 mm shell — the cavity is deliberately larger than the card so the sleeve stays on.
PT is a thickness, not a size. A case rated for your card’s thickness can still be too small for your card.
PT, converted
PT means “point”, and 1 PT is 0.0254 mm. The ratings are not arbitrary: they track the stock thicknesses cards are actually printed on, from a standard card up to a stack of thick stock.
| Rating | Millimetres | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| 35 PT | 0.89 mm | A standard raw card, the default for every TCG |
| 55 PT | 1.40 mm | Thicker stock, or a card that already has a sleeve on |
| 75 PT | 1.91 mm | Thick stock, some premium and promo printings |
| 100 PT | 2.54 mm | Heavy stock, two cards, or a card in a thick sleeve |
| 130 PT | 3.30 mm | Very heavy stock and small stacks |
| 180 PT | 4.57 mm | Multi-card stacks held together |
| 260 PT | 6.60 mm | Thick stacks and rigid multi-card holders |
| 360 PT | 9.14 mm | The top of the common range — deep stacks |
Two things follow. First, if you sleeve a card before casing it, the sleeve adds thickness and you may need the next rating up — a 35 PT card in a sleeve is not a 35 PT assembly. Second, a rating above your card’s actual thickness is not “more protection”; it is a looser fit, and a card that can move inside a case can rattle against its own edges.
The cavity is the number people skip
The cavity is the inner dimension, and it is the number that decides whether the card physically goes in. Our Ingot 35 publishes a 67 × 92 mm cavity and states what it accepts: a sleeved card up to 66 × 91 mm, or a bare card up to 63 × 88 mm.
Those two acceptance figures are the useful part, because they tell you the case was designed around a sleeved card rather than a bare one. A case with a cavity of exactly 63 × 88 mm would take a bare card and refuse a sleeved one, which is a design choice — just not one that keeps a sleeve on the card.
Footprints, side by side
Case thickness is not the only dimension that bites. A case is wider than the card by design, and a display case is a different shape again.
| Holder | Outer size | Cavity | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toploader, 3" × 4" | 76 × 102 mm | Clearance for a standard card | No — open at the top |
| CS Ingot 35 case | 104.7 × 80 × 5.5 mm | 67 × 92 mm | Yes — press-fit |
| Pro-Grade Display Slab | 83 × 130 × 6 mm | 63 × 88 mm (TCG) or 63.5 × 88.9 mm (Sports) | Yes — press-fit, with a label window |
Read the first column against the last. A toploader and a case both hold one card, but the case is a different rectangle — wider than it is tall in the Ingot’s case, where a toploader is portrait. Storage boxes are cut for one or the other, and a shelf that fits a row of toploaders will not necessarily fit a row of cases side by side. Measure the slot before you buy forty of anything.
Why the display case is longer
The Pro-Grade Display Slab is 130 mm tall against the Ingot’s 80 mm, and the extra length is above the card: it carries a blank label window. That window is the whole point of the format. It is a display object styled after a graded slab, for a card that has not been graded, with a panel where a grading company would print a grade.
It also comes in two cavity sizes, 63 × 88 mm for TCG and 63.5 × 88.9 mm for sports. That half-millimetre difference is not a rounding artefact — sports cards really are cut to a slightly different standard, and a TCG cavity on a sports card is a snug fit that can catch a corner.
Matching a sleeve to a case
The sleeve has its own two numbers, and they have to land inside the case cavity. Ours run 66 × 91 mm at the smallest thickness and 76.5 × 98 mm at the largest, across six PT bands from 35 to 360.
Do the arithmetic in one direction only: card, then sleeve, then case. A 63 × 88 mm card in a 66 × 91 mm sleeve fits a 67 × 92 mm cavity with a millimetre to spare, which is correct. Put the same card in a 76.5 × 98 mm sleeve and it will not go into the case at all — the sleeve was sized for a thick stack, and the case was not.
When the answer is not a case
If the card is graded, none of this applies: the slab is the case, made and sealed by the grading company, and the only choices left are whether to sleeve the slab and where to store it. This page covers raw cards; for the graded route see how to choose a case for a graded card and does a graded slab need a sleeve.
Frequently asked questions
What does PT mean in card case sizes?
PT means point, and 1 PT is 0.0254 mm. It is a thickness rating: 35 PT is 0.89 mm and takes a standard raw card, while 360 PT is 9.14 mm and takes a deep stack. PT says nothing about the card’s height and width, which is what the cavity covers.
How do I know if a case will fit my card?
Check the cavity against the card as you will store it. Ours is 67 x 92 mm, which takes a sleeved card up to 66 x 91 mm or a bare card up to 63 x 88 mm. A standard TCG card is 63 x 88 mm, so it fits bare or sleeved — a thicker sleeve will not.
Why are some card cases wider than a toploader?
Because the cavity has to clear a sleeved card rather than a bare one, and because the shell has walls on all four sides where a toploader has walls on three. The Ingot 35 is 104.7 x 80 x 5.5 mm against a toploader’s 76 x 102 mm, so a storage slot cut for one will not fit the other.
Does a graded card need a card case size?
No. A graded card arrives sealed inside the grading company’s own slab, and a second rigid case around a slab is not a standard product. What you choose for a graded card is whether to sleeve the slab and where to store it, not a cavity size.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- CardSpicy — CS Ingot 35 Press-Fit Rigid Card Case, for its outer size, cavity and sleeved-card clearance.
- CardSpicy — Pro-Grade Display Slab, for the 83 × 130 × 6 mm shell and the two cavity sizes.
- CardSpicy — Toploader 3" x 4" Rigid Card Holder, for the 76 × 102 mm format and its eight PT options.
- CardSpicy — Ultra Clear Penny Sleeves, for the six sleeve dimensions.
- PT-to-millimetre conversion — 1 PT = 0.0254 mm, the printing-industry definition used on every holder rating quoted here.
Related reading
- What is a card case — what the closing layer does.
- Sleeves vs toploaders vs card cases — which layer you need.
- A case for a graded card — when the slab is already the case.
- Penny sleeve vs toploader — the inner layers.
- Card slabs vs graded cases — formats compared.
- The Collector’s Index — every holder and guide, indexed.
All dimensions are quoted from the published product specifications at the date shown; manufacturers change tooling between runs, so measure the holder in hand before committing a storage layout to it. Prices are not quoted on this page: our asking prices are on each product page and move with the market.
Where to go next
- The CardSpicy card index — every card we track, with its PSA 10 population and market history (195 cards).
- The illustrator index — every artist behind those cards, card by card (110 artists).
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