My earliest memory of collecting trading cards was back in the early 2000's. My Christmas list in 2002 consisted of only one thing, 2002 Score Football packs/boxes. That's all I wanted, was to rip some packs and hit those numbered, auto and memorabilia cards. I was on a mission to complete sets and had them in binders, while giving my duplicates to my sister Katie for her to complete her sets. I eventually switched over to Threads Football in 2006 and 2007. While I was collecting these specific football sets, the Harry Potter TCG was a blast to rip packs and compete against my sister in. We would earn a pack, sometimes, when helping my mother Judy at the grocery store and couldn't wait to see what epic character we could hit from our packs. Fluffy, the three headed dog, was a go to chase for me. When in high school, my friend Hayden and I would sneakily buy Pokemon packs at our local grocery store, making sure we wouldn't see anyone from school while buying Pokemon. The 2009 Diamond & Pearl Charizard Lv X Black Star Promo Holo was one of the highlights from that stretch of collecting, a card I still own to this day! Once my college years hit, the collecting stopped, until the year 2018. The rookie year of Luka Doncic brought so many people back into the world of trading cards, including myself. My friend Mikey and I dabbled in everything the hobby had to offer in 2018-19. We joined breaks, ripped hobby boxes, sold on eBay, attended card shows, purchased singles. The memories of all the collecting I did in my younger days came back to me in the late 2010's and I jumped back into the hobby and haven't looked back since. On top of all the activities Mikey and I were enjoying about the hobby, I started purchasing some of the Panini FOTL products they had on their website and re-selling them for a profit. Once I realized I could make money in the hobby of trading cards, I focused a lot of my free time, after working my full time job during the day, to see what I could buy/sell in the hobby to make some extra money. I got into the world of breaking and started offering packs/boxes on Instagram live sessions. I would stay up into the early hours of the morning, making sure I could have product available to everyone staying up late on the west coast. With the combination of selling sealed wax through my live sessions and flipping FOTL product from Panini, I thought there was a chance to make a living off of doing something that was so enjoyable on all levels. I made a bold decision in the summer of 2020 to pursue this idea of being able to make a living from everything the trading card hobby had to offer. I'm just over 2.5 years into this journey and have experienced a great deal in that short time frame. During that short time I've been a legitimate business I've had the fondest of memories. One of which including hiring my best man at my wedding, Mikey, to work with me at TCB. We enjoyed nearly a year together, talking about sports, players, cards and traveling to shows all across the United States. In addition, my cousin John, who collected with my sister and I when we were kids, got back into the trading card hobby and eventually sold his disc golf company to be full time in the card world as well. The Covid boom will go down in the history books for the hobby and I'm happy to have experienced the craziness that came with the boom. The business side of the hobby is challenging and I've learned a great deal. The collecting side of me has been silenced, for the most part, since starting the adventure of making a full time living in the trading card industry. However, I still have managed to put together a small Prizm Gold personal collection that I hope to continue to grow. I also kept all of my personal collection from my younger days in tact and inherited my fathers collection as well. I have had my hands in a lot of pots when talking about the trading card world, selling on platforms like eBay, Myslabs, Whatnot and COMC, while creating social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. I've traveled to some major shows, including the national, and still enjoy hitting up the small local 20-30 table card show. I hope to continue to grow in this trading card industry and develop history as someone who is trusted and fair across all facets of the hobby. If you're reading up until this point, have a great day and don't forget to smile :)

​

-Devin (Owner of Trading Card Brothers LLC)