August 1992 Tuff Stuff Magazine - Are You Rich?

Like most people blogging these days, I collected in the era of junk wax & over production, and at the beginning of the rare/limited/special/exclusive era....which ultimately killed my interest in the hobby at the time.  I picked up a cheap August 1992 Tuff Stuff the other day to take a walk down memory lane and opened up to the first page to glance at the kind of things that were selling back in the day.  There were dozens of different shops selling a wide variety of items throughout the magazine, but here is what I found on the very first page from a company called Sports Collectibles, Inc.:

It got me to thinking.....what at these items selling for today??!!!  If I would have bought this stuff back then via mail order, would I have made out selling this stuff on eBay today?  Well, let's find out.  Here is a bulletized list of all the items for sale on this page (generally going from top to bottom, left to right) with the price adjusted for inflation [2018 dollars]:

- 1990 Pro Set Golf Inaugural Set - $3.75 [$6.70 in 2018 dollars]
- 1991 Pro Set Golf 285-card Factory Set - $9.75 [17.43]
- 1990 Pro Set Golf 300-card Set - $27.50 [$49.16]
- Arnold Palmer Pro Set Award Hologram - $135.00 [241.34]
- 1991 Leaf "Studio Preview" - 18-card Set - $64.00 [$114.41]
- 1989 Pro Set Santa Card - $85.00 [$151.95]
- 1990 Pro Set Santa Card - $5.00 [$8.94]
- 1991 Pro Set Santa Card - $5.00 [$8.94]
- 1990 Jeff George/Keith McCants Draft Day Set - $65.00 [$114.41]
- 1989 Pro Set James Lofton #463 - $20.00 [$35.75]
- 1989 Pro Set Blair Bush #455 - $20.00 [$35.75]
- 1989 Pro Set Thomas Sanders #445 - $20.00 [$35.75]
- 1990 Pro Set Cody Risien #75 - $10.00 [$17.88]
- 1990 Pro Set Eric Dickerson #338 - $10.00 [$17.88]
- 1989 Pro Set William Perry #47 - $10.00 [$17.88]

---All of these items add $3.00 shipping and handling [$5.36]



I went with the eBay option here to see what I could come up with.

-1990 Pro Set Golf Inaugural Set: BIN w/shipping $8.00 ($8.00-$6.70-$5.36= -$4.06)

*not a good start for something that is "Limited Printing"*

- 1991 Pro Set Golf 285-card Factory Set - BIN w/shipping $10.05 ($10.05-$17.43-$5.36= -$12.74)

** uh oh **

- 1992 Pro Set Golf 300-card Factory Set - Best Offer w/Shipping ~$21.50 ($21.50-$49.16-$5.36= -$33.02)

*** I went round and round for a few minutes until I realized that the advertisement had a typo.  It should have said 1992 instead of 1990.  Anyway, things getting worse for Pro Set Golf ***

- 1993 Arnold Palmer Pro Set Award Hologram - Best Offer w/Shipping $23.99 ($23.99-$241.34-$5.36= -$222.71)

**** Wah Wah****

- 1991 Leaf "Studio Preview" - 18-card Set (I couldn't find just the preview set, but here is the complete regular set AND Preview Set.  BIN w/shipping $32.24  ($32.24-$114.41-$5.36 = -$87.53)

***Ugh***

-1989 Pro Set Santa Card - BIN w/shipping $21.95 ($21.95-$151.95-$5.36 = -$135.36)

***Coal in the Stocking***

-1990 Pro Set Santa Card - BIN w/shipping $2.99 ($2.99-$8.94-$5.36 = -$11.31)

***Coal in the Stocking***

-1991 Pro Set Santa Card - BIN w/shipping $4.09 ($4.09-$8.94-$5.36 = -$10.21)

***Coal in the Stocking***

-1990 Jeff George/Keith McCants Draft Day Set - BIN w/shipping $10.44 ($10.44-$114.41-$5.36 = -$109.33)
*** Draft Day Bust***

- 1989Pro Set James Lofton #463 - BIN w/shipping $19.00 ($19.00-$35.75-$5.63 = -$22.38)
*** Boo ***

- 1989 Pro Set Blair Bush #455 - Successful Bid Price w/shipping $10.49 ($10.49-$35.75-$5.63 = -$30.89)

*** Boo ***

- 1989 Pro Set Thomas Sanders #445 - Successful Bid Price w/shipping $21.50 ($21.50-$35.75-$5.63 = -$19.88)

*** Boo ***

- 1990 Pro Set Cody Risien #75 - Graded Opening Bid w/shipping $18.99 ($18.99-$17.88-$5.63 = -$4.52)

*** Almost, but grading fees bump this lose even higher.***

- 1990 Pro Set Eric Dickerson #75 - [Graded] Bid w/shipping $2.00 ($2.00-$17.88-$5.63 = -$21.51)

*** A big loss and the grading fees bump this lose even higher.***

- 1989 Pro Set William Perry #47 - Bid w/shipping $6.31 ($6.31-$17.88-$5.63 = -$17.20)

***No love for the fridge***

There you have it.  Does anyone own any of these or invest in them back in 1992?