Manufactured relics are somewhat controversial within the baseball card community. They are, like you'd expect, cards where the enclosed relic has been manufactured and have no direct link to specific players in the way that game-used relics do. They are usually either made of metal, plastic or are sewn on.
It's understandable that some have been disappointed after opening a case of cards only to find that their "hit" was a manufactured relic when they had been hoping for a player-worn jersey relic or similar.
That said, these manufactured relics often have a higher value on the secondary market than a non-top-player's jersey relic would do. And, in our opinion, they often have a significantly higher eye appeal too.
As far as we can tell, manufactured relics were first introduced by Topps in 2008 when they started to include commemorative patches and replica mini jerseys in their packs. Even the highest produced cards had a print run of 539, so they weren't easy to come across.
That has all changed since then.
In recent years, there has been a surge in both the type and number of manufactured patches available, with Topps in particular leading the way. If there is an event happening in the baseball world, you can be pretty sure that there is a set manufactured relic cards to commemorate it.
In recent years, there have been...
Medallions to celebrate 150 years of professional baseball
Spring Training team logo patches
Players Weekend patches
Independence Day flag patch
All-Star game logo relics
Embroidered mascot patches
Jackie Robinson Day commemorative patches
Duplicates of cards sewn onto cloth or onto silk
And that is just scratching the surface.
we've decided to focus on two of our favourites to demonstrate how these manufactured relics look.
First up, rookie medallion cards. In recent years, Topps have included a manufactured relic to celebrate rookies. But last year - for us at least - they really took it up a notch by shrinking the size of the medallion and including them in reprints of iconic rookie cards from throughout history. The Roberto Clemente version is a big favourite of ours.
We're also big fans of their manufactured team logo patch cards. These have been around for a little while longer than the rookie medallion cards but still look great to us. There are a few of these in our collection and we think they look really good, especially on display.
We can understand why these aren't to everyone's taste but we've got to say that we're big fans. What they lack in value (which on a positive note makes them easier to find to buy individually) they more than make up in eye appeal.
What are your thoughts on manufactured relics?
Let us know in the comments or on twitter.
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