Ebay Watch: December 2013

December was disappointing this month. It used to be that you would get some bank-breaker decks going off in December, as wives and girlfriends found the perfect xmas gift for their skate obsessed partners! They wouldn’t mind if it was overpriced because they don’t know and better and it’s simply crossing a gift off the list. But I didn’t see much of that this year. No, prices were down across the board. I saw more dudes dropping stuff for bargain prices, probably so they could afford to buy gifts for their wives and girlfriends! I’m not sure what that says about our hobby. Maybe the bottom is dropping out. We shall see.

60s, 70s, very early 80s.

First up this in the 70s section this period is this complete from 1977. It’s an Alva 30” deck complete with Lazer trucks and blue 65mm Kryptonics. It was signed in 1978 in Southport, England, 30 minutes away from my house! It’s in really nice condition, but I would remove the Powerflex stickers. That’s one really nice looking complete! It sold for $543 on 17 bids.

Now here we have a G&S Fiberflex Bowlrider from 1977. The deck has factory grip but has never been mounted or ridden. The shiny black finish looks awesome with the clean griptape and the gold white and red sticker logo. This nice looking specimen sold for $400 on 8

And here’s an unusual one! It’s a Hawaii 5-0 complete from the late 60s/early 70s. It comes complete with Super Surfer clay wheels and measures 22” by 6”. I don’t know if it’s a spin-off from the TV series or whether it’s a coincidence. The blue blobs are the Hawaiian Islands if you didn’t know. I used to have a sticker of them on the back of my car, and more than a few people told me that the sticker on the back of my car had ripped, not getting that they were individual islands! It sold for $415 on 5 bids.

Damn, here’s a fucking racing machine! This thing just screams speed! It’s a G&S Fiberflex Henry Hester slalom deck with gold Gullwing split axle HPG IV trucks and original OJ Superjuice wheels. It has been ridden but very very little, and is in superb condition as you can see. So shiny it looks like it was built yesterday instead of almost 40 years ago. Amazing. It sold for $1,225 on 36 bids.

And here’s another great looking complete. Admittedly not as nice as the one above, but then again few are! It’s a G&S Dennis Martinez “Flying Aces” deck from 1979, complete with Motobilt trucks and G7S Rollerball wheels. It’s in excellent used condition; barely looks used at all really. The trucks are unusual, and Rollerballs are always a nice fine. It sold for $750.

The completes continue with this 1979 G&S Doug Pineapple Saladino “Pine Design (Routed)” deck, complete with Gullwing trucks and some kind of really bulky single conical wheels. It’s in decent used condition, but looks like it could use some real cleaning up. Especially the wheels. They look like they’ve been rolling through hot tar. It sold for $800 with a BIN and lasted only 24 minutes.

And finally from the 70s this month we have this exquisite Santa Cruz 28” oak deck. It has the classic rainbow logo, and comes complete with Trackers and Tunnel V wheels. It’s super clean and was a bargain at $385.

Mid 1980s

So first up in the 80s section this month we have this G&S Neil Blender “Driving” deck from 1988, complete with green Variflex trucks and Slammer wheels. It’s been setup obviously but has never been ridden. Seriously, the thing is perfect. The trucks and white wheels make a nice compliment to the colors in the graphic too. This is awesome. It sold for $499.

And speaking of Neil Blender, here we have his 2nd pro deck, the G&S “Jumper” from 1982. It’s actually his version of the Stiff Little Fingers “Go For It” album cover. Doodled on a schoolbook perhaps during class? This one is unusual because I’ve never seen that checkerboard motif on the nose and tail before. SO that’s either a really rare variation, or was added by the original owner, along with all of the stickers. It comes complete with Gullwings and Powell Peralta wheels. It’s not in great shape: the white deck has yellowed with age as has the clear griptape on top, and the stickers are very distracting from the main graphic. But it still sold for $1,000.

Now here’s an absolute beauty. This is a Brand X “X Terminator” team deck from 1983. It’s NOS, never mounted or gripped, but it does have some storage marks, especially on the nose unfortunately. It doesn’t really detract from this deck in my eyes. It’s magnificent. Simple but sooo great. I would love this one my wall. Hell, this would great on any wall. It sold for $430 on 13 bids.

Now here we have a Alva Chris Cook ‘Jester” from 1986/87. The deck is NOS, mint really. No dings or obvious marks at all. I’ve never been able to figure out what the hell that graphic is and why it’s called the jester, but what do I know? This one is a really nice teal stain, but a fade would have increased the price of this maybe twofold. It sold for $417 on 11 bids.

Here we have a Tracker Adrian Demain “Face 2” deck from 1990. He was way ahead of his time with manga style graphic, and the full bleed was a really nice touch. His decks are really underappreciated I feel, but if this one is any indication, they may be starting to get some respect! It sold for $450.

Here we have your classic Santa Cruz Duane Peters “DP 2” deck from 1985. It’s the 29” version, and is mint in original bag. It’s a total classic, and is being reissued in the near future by SC along with the Steve Olson checkerboard. It sold for $444.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Eric Dressen “Celtic Rose” deck from 1989. The deck is NOS, never mounted or gripped. I’ve always loved the graphic, and some really love the gold/blue duotone colorway like this, but I’m not into it that much. I much prefer the full color graphic, but can appreciate the understated class of this one. It is intricate and amazing. It sold for $400.

Goddamn! You never see one of those! Ever! It’s a Fogtown “Beast” team model from 1985. Graphics are by the incomparable MoFo. Fogtown were one of those super mysterious small companies that advertised in ¼ page ads in the back of Thrasher. I always loved the idea of those decks, especially the Board to Death model, and this one, the Beast. It’s fucking awesome and you never see it! It’s NOS and it sold for $676 on 11 bids.

Here we have the G&S “Foiltail” team model from 1984. This came out after Gator left G&S to go to Vision, but they decided to keep his model and simply change the name on the bottom of the deck. This one is mint in the original bag it came in. It’s not the best deck in the world, and by 1984 this kind of surf inspired graphic was already looking incredibly dated. But still. Hard to find in this condition. It sold for $499.

Here we have one of those crazy Alva workshop one off spray paint jobs. The deck is a John Gibson “Tex Street”, but the real selling point here is the nutzo swirl spray can background. I love that the Alva guys did shit like this. They had the regular stained, the fades, and sometimes the speckles or the swirl backgrounds. Totally random and totally awesome. What’s not awesome is that some dickhead tried to take advantage and fake some of these a few years ago, but I digress. The originals like this are just awesome, transforming an average deck into something special. It sold for $500.

Here we have a Vision Mark Gonzales “Split Face” from 1989. The deck is as close to mint as you will find with very few marks of any kind. The purple wash isn’t my favorite colorway, and this graphic never really did it for me, but some obviously love it to death. It sold for a very large $1,650 on 30 bids.

So here we have a Schmitt Stix Jeff Grosso “Toy Blocks” from 1986. So already you can tell this is a big hitter right? Jeff Grosso’s rookie deck, NOS condition, pink dip. Everything a collector could look for really. So you know that this is going for huge bucks, and you are not wrong. If there is any critique of this deck it would be that it isn’t colorful enough. On a pink dip the letters in the blocks and the tie shouldn’t be pink. An alternate colorway would make it pop far more. But anyway, it didn’t need any help to go huge. It sold for $2,148 on 27 bids.

So remember what I was saying about prices being down? Well the next two decks really illustrate that. It used to be that any Powell Peralta Tony Hawk “Chicken Skull” deck would go for crazy dollars, despite the fact that there’s a million of them out there. Well those days appear to be gone. The lime green dip used to be one of the biggest sellers. You couldn’t touch a mint one for under 2k. This one is all mounted up with red Ventures and Schmitt Sawblade wheels, but it’s never seen pavement, so to all intents and purposes it’s NOS. It sold for $750. That seems REALLY cheap to me. Well let me put that another way. That’s probably what it should go for, but it’s far lower than this deck would have gone for a year ago.

So how about a mint one in an even rarer colorway? The yellow dip has always been one of the highest sellers. And full size, 7-ply, mint in shrink? That’s a down payment on a car. Well not anymore apparently. Not that $1,026 is anything to be sneezed at, but that’s about half of what it would have gone for at one point. Can anybody else explain this?

This one always tickles me! It’s a Christian Hosoi “Dragon”, the very first hammerhead deck that he ever came out with. He’d just left Alva after getting pissed that Tony took the credit for the hammerhead shape. Christian and his father decided to put out some decks by themselves, and this was the very first version. Not many came out (thank god), and shortly after they came up with the famous triangle graphic that sold a million decks. So this one is super rare, and even though it looks like a cheap toystore piece of crap, it’s actually a piece of skate history. Even beaten up like this it still sold for $600.

Here’s a true classic. The Sims Lester Kasai “Splat” from 1983. This one looks minty fresh. The white dip is super clean, and the blue and green graphic is fluorescent and bright. This is a superb specimen. I would love to have this deck in my collection. Don’t put it on a white wall though. You will lose all of the effect! It sold for $801 on 10 bids.

Here we have a Schmitt Stix Joe Lopes “Barbecue” model from 1987. The deck was gripped but never actually setup or ridden. I like the natural colorway with turquoise and black graphic. It’s very simple but effective. It sold for $600 on 2 bids.

I tell you what, I thin this might be the best colorway I’ve ever seen for this SMA Natas “Evil cat” deck. The bottle green woodstain with grain showing through is incredible, and the red, gold and blue main graphic looks really full and rich. It really is an exceptional looking deck. It sold for only $400, which I find crazy, but it might be because it was lightly skated and the griptape job is incredibly horrendous. But remove that and you have a beautiful deck.

And here we have a classic Alva fade. This one is the Eddie Reategui “Monkey” from 1988. Alva fades are exploding off the charts, it doesn’t seem to matter what the graphic is. Decks that used to be $100 are now going for 4X that if they have the fade. This one used to be around $200. Now? Well this NOS one sold for $750.

And finally from the 80s this month we have this Sims Steve Rocco “Streetstyle” model from 1987. It’s actually a very interesting deck, because it was one of the first “street” decks. Steve Rocco was an old freestyle rider who saw the possibilities of bringing freestyle tricks to the street, and was one of the first to do ollies in street contests. This was his final model on Sims before he left to form World Industries and change skating forever. So the fact this is a very conventional looking deck with a very old fashioned graphic is extremely ironic. It sold for $671 on 30 bids.

90s-present day

We’ve got a pretty great 90s section this month. Even I’m excited for it! Actually I play on the fact that I don’t like 90s graphics, but that’s not true. The early 90s stuff was some of the most exciting, groundbreaking stuff in skate history. And that goes for shapes and graphics. It’s the mid 90s, throwaway graphic shit that I hate. All ripped off cartoons, ads or gangsta shit. Hate all that nonsense. We are better than that. Plus the full-on tiny popsicles. No style at all.

Anyway, first up in the 90s section this month we have this Alien Workshop “Visitor” team deck from 1992. It’s NOS, never gripped or mounted, and in an amazing bright orange wood stain. The colors are amazing here, and it’s got that amazingly skateable early 90s shape. It sold for $420 on 14 bids.

Now here’s a deck I’ve never seen before! It’s a Bad Boy Club (BBC) “Adam and Eve” deck from 1990. It’s an odd graphic don’t in a very odd style. More like a 60s painting than a skateboard graphic really. It’s unusual but strangely compelling. It’s NOS, never gripped or mounted but it does have storage marks. It sold for $400.

And here’s an absolute classic. It’s a Blind Jason Lee “David Bowie” deck from 1992. It’s NOS, and in a yellow stain. C&D did a decent job with their reissue, but the original is always the best. And prices appear to be falling if you can believe that. It sold for $1,875 on 25 bids.

Here we have a Liberty Todd Congelliere “Icee Bear” deck from 1991. It’s NOS< never gripped or mounted. This graphic has really exploded in popularity over the last few years and is highly sought after, especially in this condition and colorway. It sold for $436 on 19 bids.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Corey O’Brien “Mutant City” deck from 1991. The deck is mint in shrink. Most of us know Corey from the Jim Phillips penned “Reaper” graphic from 1988, but he did have a couple of other decks. Not as iconic as the “Reaper”, but still pretty cool. It only came in the one colorway I think. Artwork by Daniel Clowes. It sold for $400

Next we have a Zorlac Craig Johnson “Torso” deck from 1991. So Craig originally rode for Zorlac and then left to skate for Alva. But for a short time in the early 90s he returned to the San Diego version of Zorlac. This is his second graphic on his return. The deck has been ridden a little but is in overall great shape. It’s been drilled for rails but the grip has been removed. It sold for $620.

Here we have a Powell Peralta “Liberty and Justice for Some” team deck from 1991. It’s NOS, never gripped or mounted. The graphic was originally conceived by Ray Barbee and finished by Sean Cliver. It sold for $615 on 17 bids.

And here we have another of the early 90s Zorlac decks. This is the Metallica “Pirate 2” team deck from 1992. It’s NOS, never gripped or mounted, but has storage scratches from hanging etc. It’s a nice red stain, and has one of the classic Pushead Metallica graphics. Although by this time I don’t think Metallica had many links with the skate community anymore. It sold for $1,100 on 16 bids.

Now here’s a simple graphic, beautifully rendered. It’s a Powell Peralta Wade Speyer “Plaid” deck from 1992. The deck is mint in shrink. It’s a very simple idea for a graphic but beautifully conceived. I really like the red around the edges too. It pulls the whole thing together. It sold for $399 on a BIN after 2 hours.

And here we have a New Deal Ed Templeton “crowd” deck from 1991. It’s his second graphic, the “Patchwork Cat” being the first. The deck is NOS, never mounted or gripped. I’m seeing trend with a lot of the Stance decks that were sold. All the same color stain. That must have been some collection! It sold for $955 on 34 bids.

Here we have a Real Jim Thiebaud “Wrench” deck from 1991. As with most 90s decks this period it’s being sold by Stance from Madrid! Crazy collection. The deck is NOS of course. Classic Thiebaud political graphic, and with most Thiebaud graphics it has a Klansman in it. It sold for $586 on 6 bids.

And finally in the 90s section this month we have this World Industries Mike Vallely ‘Elephant 2” or ‘Canyon” deck from 1990. The graphic is a continuation of his earlier Powell elephant graphic, but this time it is standing on the abyss. This deck has a top graphic that’s almost as big as the bottom graphic. It also features the “egg” built into the concave on top of the deck. A gimmick that was supposed to help catch your front foot when doing an ollie. This deck was set up as a clock in a skateshop, hence the square cutout on top. It sold for $1,100 on 7 bids.

Assorted Crap

This is a C&D (Cease and Desist) “reissue’ of the Mike Carroll Plan B “Nevertrend” deck, originally from 1992. It’s autographed and mint in shrink and in a super limited edition of 10 supposedly. It sold for $455 on 20 bids. I had no idea that C&D decks went for so much. Especially because their “limited” runs often turn out to be not so limited.

Here we have a NHS Christian Hosoi “Rocket Air” banner. It’s in new condition and measues 3 feet square. It sold for $550. So what’s your guess? Hanging in a garage? It’s much too valuable to be fixed to a ramp. Or in some rich collectors den perhaps. I have to admit, as banners go this one is pretty epic.

Quick Hitters

1984 Vision Agent Orange complete with white Gullwings and Sims Street wheels. $500 on 1 bid.

1984 Brand X “Weirdo” complete. Indy Stage III and Powell Bones III. $450 on 5 bids.

1988 Powell Peralta “Mechanical Dragon”. NOS in natural wood. $420.

1988 Santa Cruz “Street Creep” team deck. Mint in shrink. $1,025 on 22 bids.

1985 Zorlac “Double Cut” team deck. Complete with (early) Ventures and Schmitt Stix Street Saw wheels. $500 on 20 bids.

1985 Zorlac John Gibson “Cow Skull” complete. Comes with Indys and Santa Cruz Bullets. $430.

1988 Santa Cruz Claus Grabke “Holding Back Time” deck. Mint in Shrink. $600 on 21 bids. Classic question on this auction: “I’m willing to go as high as $350 on this to end it now”. The auction was already at $400…

1988 Vision Tom Groholski “Hurricane”. NOS. $380 on 17 bids.

1989 Blockhead Omar Hassan “Arabian Knights II”. NOS. $390 on 10 bids.

1990 Blockhead Rick Howard “Skunk” deck. NOS. $579 on 11 bids.

1985 Schmitt Stix John Lucero “X1”. Complete with Trackers and Rat Bones. $430.

1984 Powell Peralta Mike McGill “Skull and Snake” deck. NOS. $694 on 52 bids.

1988 Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp “Face II”. NOS. $495 on 25 bids.

1991 Powell Peralta Mike McGill “Stinger” deck. NOS. $600.

1990 Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp “Eye 2” deck. NOS $530.

See ya next time.

-Neil