Clearly the Top Sniper in the NHL

Still have some scanning work to get done in order to complete the post on my next great eBay card flip, so for today let's look at an awesome recent hockey pick-up that I think was a real bargain...

This here is Alex Ovechkin's 2019-20 Upper Deck flagship hockey card.  Those of you with a keen eye may have noticed that you can see some backwards text sort of bleeding through from the back along the bottom portion of the card.  That's because this is actually a "Clear Cut" acetate parallel.  Upper Deck has been doing these parallels in their flagship hockey release for a few years running now, and as a fan of clear cards I absolutely love them.

The thing is though, while not serial-numbered, they're quite rare.  In the 2019-20 release, these fall at a rate of just 1:96 packs.  That's just one Clear Cut parallel every four wax boxes, or just three total per case!  Given the hundreds of cards in the set that all get this parallel treatment, you could literally open a hundred cases of 2019-20 Upper Deck and not see a single copy of this card, even with perfect collation.

Considering the rarity of these, I think I got quite a deal on this one at just $5 even, plus a couple bucks shipping.  It's actually quite unbelievable to me when I consider just how few of these are out there, and just how good a player Ovechkin is.  When I stumbled upon it at $6 I should have picked it up right away, but for some reason put it on my eBay watchlist instead.  Lo and behold, just an hour or two later the seller sent me a private offer for $5 and I bit instantly.  What a deal.

Here's a look at the back.  With the card being acetate, Upper Deck understandably keeps any text down on the lower 1/3 or so of the card.

It's hard to really appreciate just how cool a card this is in blog format, this one would fair much better in a YouTube video or something.  Here's a shot that gives you at least some idea though, featuring Ovie in his new One Touch magnetic home, held up in front of my office window.  Gives you an idea of how the card illuminates nicely with backlighting.  You can get an idea for the transparency if you notice the green leaves from the trees in my yard showing through the boards in front of Alex's face there.

I'd love to score a Clear Cut parallel of another HOFer or two at some point.  They don't crop up often, and certainly not at this price point for superstars when they do.  Maybe someday though, I'll certainly keep my eyes peeled.  I like this one enough that it's probably my second favorite Ovechkin card in my entire collection, behind his Young Guns rookie.  Finding these types of bargains are one of the great thrills in the hobby to me.

That's all for today, thanks as always for stopping by, and enjoy your Sunday!