2019 Topps Clearly Authentic Review

For the second week in a row, Topps has released a product that comes one card per box. 2019 Topps Clearly Authentic takes the 2019 card designs and gives them the clear treatment with acetate. The cares are all autographed on-card and come inside a protective one touch, sealed with a Topps sticker. Boxes of Clearly Authentic run about ten or so dollars more than their Archives Signature counterparts. Are they worth buying over that release?

Product Thoughts
The answer is YES. Topps Clearly Authentic does cost a little more than the Archives Signatures, but from what I've seen, the player selection is much better. Clearly gives collectors a mix of both current and retired players, and the collation of the stars in the product seems head and shoulders above Archives. If you're a fan of what acetate cards look like, this year's design works great. I wasn't a huge fan of the regular looking Topps base cards, but the borders - especially with the colored parallels look great.

Collectors can find retro designs such as 1984 inspired cards as well as 1952 designs and mini T-206 acetate cards. If you liked the 150 years of baseball inserts in Topps this year, you can also get acetate versions of those cards. There is an excellent amount of stars (especially retired greats) that can be found in these particular subsets. See one of those in your box and chances are you've got a good card in your hands.

Of course no modern release would be complete without parallel cards. Both the standard base set and all the special designs have parallels that can be found. The parallel cards are serial numbered depending on its rarity. Orange /5 and gold/1 are the rarest of the parallels.

It's good that Topps released this product after Archives Signatures because after seeing this, I wouldn't touch Archives!

Positives:

• On-Card autographs.
• Both current and retired players can be found in this release.
• Good distribution of star power in cases.

Negatives:

• More expensive than Archives Signatures (the other one card per box brand like this one).
• Very quick break experience.
• Still a relatively risky product.

Overall Rating:

8.25/10