I've decided to become a BOX collector

That title does lend itself to something *dirty* in a person's mind.  But I swear, it's nothing like that.

So my new strategy of collecting involves never seeing cards at all.  That's my big secret, my big experiment.

I'd like to interject that buying boxes of cards and NOT breaking them is akin to Gandhi sleeping next to naked women to test his willpower.

I formed the idea in my head when I started looking to bust some of my own Nicolas Batum rookie cards.  It was impossible.  Boxes of 08/09 Bowman are rare - and if you can find them will now cost somewhere between $300-$400 dollars.  Why?  Because Derrick Rose is on the box - and his RC's are inside the box.

It's the same idea if somebody wanted to open a box of Chrome from Lebron rookie year - they're out there, but they are expensive.

Now this obviously isn't an approach that you can take with every year of cards that come out.  The 06/07 Bowman boxes have Adam Morrison on the box - and the big rookie of the year that year ended up being Brandon Roy.  Suffice to say, Blowout still has hobby boxes available for under $80.

So this whole idea got me thinking - aside from sets that I want to build, what's the best way to make a bit of money on this hobby?  And it struck me that you have to pick the right box, the right year with the right price - and hold onto that sucker for a while until your sanity can't take it and you open it like a rabid dog or you sell it for a nifty profit.

Was that a run-on sentence?  That's kind of how my mind was working as I held onto my newly acquired boxes.

So what did I decide on?  First let me tell you the rules I set for myself:

1)  If possible, the box has to have a rookie lineup that holds up.
2)  Autos need to be on-card if possible.
3)  REDEMPTIONS have to be at an absolute minimum.
4)  The brand of the box (not the maker, but the brand) needs to be recognizable.
5)  The major 1/1 hits from the box still need to be "out there".  For example, when the Strausburg 1/1 was pulled - you remember that card that Beckett gave a 9.5 to, but the card was like cut back in 1963? - the value of the unopened boxes went down because the biggest hit had been pulled.

So there's my list.  It's not scientific, but it's workable.

And with that in mind, here's my latest purchase -

I am now in possession of 3 hobby boxes of 2012 Topps Football.

Now, why choose this product?  Well, obviously, the cover man is a good start.  But this product is full of RGIII and Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson.

The only downfall is that many of the R. Wilson autos are redemptions, but RGIII and Luck are in the boxes and are ON-CARD.

There are a couple of variations for each rookie, so there are 1/1's still left to pull - along with a great many autos that haven't shown up yet.

These boxes give me the best rookie class we've seen in a while.  If any one of these guys wins a ring, the box only increases that much more.

The price on these boxes was also a steal.  I got the last boxes off of Blowout that were priced at $104 each.  Already, the site is selling them for $112, and ebay average is around $115-120.  So if I sold them as is right now, I've already made money on them.  I was at my hobby shop today and the owner said he won't buy more of these because the prices per box are too high (now that he's buying secondary market as well) and his profit would be too low.  So I'm pretty set with these.

I would hope that these boxes continue to rise.  Will they reach the heights of 08/09 Topps Chrome Basketball?  Maybe, maybe not.  Blowout has a RETAIL box of 08/09 Topps Chrome for $249 right now. So it could happen.  I think this rookie class has potential.

That being said, I'm selling off a lot of PC and I hope to get one or two more boxes of this stuff to store away.  My limit on this product will be $130 - and then I just sit an wait.  And hopefully I don't drink a whisky and bust these bad boys.

Because in my mind, I'll be thinking about how cool it would be if I got a Luck or a Griffin 1/1 auto superfractor out of one of the boxes - and I could sell that card and pay off my car note.

I better get all scotch out of my house.

Just an aside, I have two boxes pre-ordered of 2013 Bowman Inception baseball.  Again, check it out on Blowout, and you'll see why I chose that product.  I'm taking a gamble on the rookies - but being locked in to a product that beautiful, with 5 on-card autographs per box can't be a bad thing.  And it doesn't come out until June.

That's perfect, if one of those rookies starts to take off, the value of those boxes could go up immediately with the on-card feature.  I'll definitely get one or two more of those pre-ordered at that price before June.

So what say you, bloggers?  Could you have these three boxes in your closet and not open them?  It's tough.  Believe me.  But I think this could be a legitimate way to take back a few bucks that I've given to this hobby.

I'll keep you updated on the price growth.