Refractor
A Refractor is a card with a reflective coating that shows a rainbow when tilted. Topps introduced the finish in 1993, and Refractors are parallels of base cards, often in numbered colors.
In more detail
The first Refractors came in the 1993 Topps set called Baseball's Finest. A reflective coating throws a rainbow shine as the card tilts in the light. Because they are parallels of the base cards, a Refractor shows the same player and design as the base card with the new finish.
Releases such as Topps Finest, Topps Chrome and Bowman Chrome often hold several Refractor colors, among them Gold, Blue, Red, Orange and Green. The variants are typically serial numbered, though not always, and the scarcer colors carry lower numbers. The rarest is the SuperFractor, a card numbered 1/1.
Refractor is Topps's own name for the finish. Other makers sell similar cards under names of their own, among them Reflectors from Press Pass, Prizms from Panini and Mirrors from Leaf. Match a listing's maker and name to the card in your hand before you call it a Refractor.
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