[natejeffries]

Great response Nate. 2005 was an awesome year. I liked the design too. Some very good players in that draft set - Braun, Bautista, McCutchen, Tulo and Zimmerman for starters.

That's awesome that you build all of those sets and keep so much of it. Good luck on the rest of the break.

Are you going to do Sterling for the Super Bowl again?

Some of this I can't answer too well because I'm not a careful historian of my breaks. I do keep records, but I rarely go back through them and reflect on things like which break was most profitable.

I can say, however, that I tend to keep the biggest hits for myself. One year I built a complete set of draft comprising blue refractors. One year I built a complete set of colored refractors (including some red, gold, & orange). So I'll usually see what my break is like and then decide what kind of a high end set I want to build & keep. I'll also keep a set of base and a set of chrome, but then I sell off all the extra sets and duplicates and extras that don't make sets. I usually sell the printing plates and exotics too (like 60th year auto inserts).

I have really fond memories of the 2005 draft break. I liked the design and it seems like I got tons of great blue refractor auto hits. Overall I enjoy the draft breaks the best, I think. Sterling is amazing to break, and like you said, I pretty much killed it last year, but I don't like the distribution of parallels as much in that product.

Anyway, because I tend to skim off the best from my breaks I don't get a whole lot back in sales. I'm also lazy in selling -- doing it when I have time rather than when it makes most sense, selling in large lots instead of optimizing return, etc. So in the end I usually sell off just enough to help me finish building whatever sets I decide to build.

It should be clear to anyone reading that I don't do this to make money. It's a hobby that I enjoy, and while my collection represents a pretty substantial financial asset, it's an "investment" that carries about a 60-70% return.