It’s funny how this column comes together. It’s different every month. Last month for example it took me about 3 weeks to put it all together. I’d do one section, wait to get motivated for a week, force myself to do a few decks, then come back a few days later and do some more. But some months like this one everything just flows and I crank out the whole thing in a couple of days. It feels much better this way; you get in a flow and just ride it out. Hours go by without noticing it. It’s good. Hopefully you guys enjoy them all, but this one feels extra special somehow. Of course the decks that get featured have a lot to do with that too. It’s tough to find new stuff to say when you’re featuring a Hawk birdclaw for the 50th time. So you might notice that there are no Hawks, no Natas and no McGill decks featured this month. That was half by chance and half by choice. I hope you don’t miss them!
And oh yeah, when did HBO get so crap? It used to be the best movie channel out there, but now it replays the same old movies over and over again. Want to watch Big? I can guarantee that it will be on one of the HBO channels in the next 24 hours. If it wasn’t for the TV series made for HBO like Rome or Band of Brothers I would have give up and cancelled it years ago. And with streaming services I’m not sure if even that is worth it anymore. I don’t subscribe to Showtime but I was able to download and watch every Episode of Dexter Season 4 just hours after they showed first run. And was it just me or were the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics just painfully long and utterly terrible? It made me not want to watch one single minute of the Olympics. And are those Native Americans still dancing?
This month’s BayWatch is brought to you by the new album by The Bomb “Speed is Everything”. If you don’t know The Bomb then you’ve really been missing out for the past 10 years. After Naked Raygun broke up, half the band was involved with Pegboy, but Pezzati took his time, eventually reappearing with his own new band, The Bomb. The band has released an EP and 3 albums through the years, each one with a completely different lineup, the only constant factor being Pezzati. The different lineups have resulted in very different albums. The first was 2000’s Torch Songs. It was a good, not great album that felt a little restrained and the lyrics felt very personal. “Indecision” followed 5 years later and was a much better record all the way around. It was a tightly focused blast of Chicago style punk rock with all of Pezzati’s patented whoah-whoah choruses. It was probably my favorite new album of the past few years. The songs are so powerful and they totally stick with you. The vocals sounded like Naked Raygun but the sound was more basic. Their third album, the splendid “Speed is Everything” sounds more like Naked Raygun than any Bomb album before. All of the ingredients are there, and they have stirred them into one kick-ass pot of muscular punk rock stew. I’ve only had it for about 2 weeks but I’ve been playing it non-stop. Personal favorites are “The Rescue” with its Buzzcocks style drumming and classic Pezzati phrasing, and the VERY Naked Raygun sounding “Haver”. It’s all good though, seriously. There isn’t a weak moment on here. Even the cover of the Flock of Seagulls “Space Age Love Song” is good. I tell you what, do yourself a favor. Stop waiting for Naked Raygun to reform and release something new and instead go out and buy this. It’s on No Idea records or you can buy it on iTunes.
This month’s BayWatch is brought to you by the new album by The Bomb “Speed is Everything”. If you don’t know The Bomb then you’ve really been missing out for the past 10 years. After Naked Raygun broke up, half the band was involved with Pegboy, but Pezzati took his time, eventually reappearing with his own new band, The Bomb. The band has released an EP and 3 albums through the years, each one with a completely different lineup, the only constant factor being Pezzati. The different lineups have resulted in very different albums. The first was 2000’s Torch Songs. It was a good, not great album that felt a little restrained and the lyrics felt very personal. “Indecision” followed 5 years later and was a much better record all the way around. It was a tightly focused blast of Chicago style punk rock with all of Pezzati’s patented whoah-whoah choruses. It was probably my favorite new album of the past few years. The songs are so powerful and they totally stick with you. The vocals sounded like Naked Raygun but the sound was more basic. Their third album, the splendid “Speed is Everything” sounds more like Naked Raygun than any Bomb album before. All of the ingredients are there, and they have stirred them into one kick-ass pot of muscular punk rock stew. I’ve only had it for about 2 weeks but I’ve been playing it non-stop. Personal favorites are “The Rescue” with its Buzzcocks style drumming and classic Pezzati phrasing, and the VERY Naked Raygun sounding “Haver”. It’s all good though, seriously. There isn’t a weak moment on here. Even the cover of the Flock of Seagulls “Space Age Love Song” is good. I tell you what, do yourself a favor. Stop waiting for Naked Raygun to reform and release something new and instead go out and buy this. It’s on no idea records or you can buy it on iTunes.
60s, 70s, early 80s.
First up this month is this Alva deck from 1977. I’ve lost all of my notes on this one so I don’t know if it’s the 27” or the 30” model, but I do know that it’s in NOS condition and that it sold for $633. It came out when skinny decks were still selling, but within a year the fat deck craze started, so Tony made a 10” deck, as shown in the next listing.
And here is the 1978 Alva deck, this one being the 10 “ tri-logo model. The top graphic had the logo three times too, vertically instead of horizontally like the one above. It’s unridden and in very nice condition; I doubt you’ll find a cleaner one. It sold for $1,625.
Going back a few years we have this wonderful looking Bahne complete from 1975. It is totally NOS with a perfect condition bright yellow fiberglass deck, Untouched Chicago trucks and red urethane open bearing wheels. It could have come down off of the wall of a museum or out of a time capsule. It’s that clean. It had 40 bids and eventually sold for $318.
From 1979 comes this Powell Peralta “Beamer”, complete with Trackers and what look like red Kryptonics. The complete is showing its age, but it is all there, and it’s a Beamer! You don’t get many chances to own one of these for heaven’s sake! Near mint ones go in the $3000 range, so this one going for $927 doesn’t seem high. The question is, is it orange or is it dirty yellow?
So you want another very old and beaten up Powell deck? Well here’s a very early (1978) Powell Ray Bones Rodriguez Brite Lite model. Look at the snubnose on this bad boy! There literally is about half an inch up there! It was wide but lighter than most other wide decks on the market because it was only 6 ply. It’s very well sued as you can see, but it still managed to pull in $862 which should give you some idea of it’s rarity.
Going back to the mid 70s fiberglass completes we have this Hobie Hustler. It has ACS 500 trucks and unknown wheels. It has a striking red blue and green colorway and is a classic example of 70s mid-price skate engineering. Note the absence of any kicktail at all. It sold for $194.
Now this sucker is so chewed up that I almost didn’t show it, but the number of bids it received and the amount that it went for despite its condition shows that some folks are really interested in late 70s decks. It’s a Kanoa V-Winger, a very early version of the stinger tail. The yellow areas are cutaways for weight/ grip, and it even has one ancient wooden rail still screwed in. It had one on the other side too, but that is long gone. The top side has clear grip showing the early Independent and Sims stickers underneath, giving us some clues as to how this was originally set up: Indys and Sims Snakes I’d guess. Chewed up as it is, it still went for a decent $188.
And finally in the 70s section we have this beautiful condition Sims Lonnie Toft deck from 1978. Even though it doesn’t look like much this deck actually was a graphic breakthrough for Sims. Before this all of their decks had the Sims wings logo in red with the skaters sig under the logo. For the first time there was a graphic element on the deck too. Now, it’s just a green triangle, but still, it frames the signature nicely, and it does offer a splash of color. The next evolution was making it bigger and replacing the Sims type inside the wings logo with a big S with the head of a snake that breaks out of the wings. The deck has been mounted but is basically in NOS condition. $675.
Mid 1980s
So let’s start off the 80s section this month with this G&S Neil Blender deck from 1984. It’s not his first model, but it is his first “real” graphic: his 2 previous attempts looked like doodles on a school notebook! This is his “snake and lattice” graphic, and it’s complete with Gullwings and Dogtown wheels. It’s in really nice condition; I’ve seldom seen better. The white looks a little yellowed, but that’s all the bad I’ve really got to say. This is a really, really nice complete. $400.
And here’s another beautiful complete. It’s a Santa Cruz Bullet team deck from 1986. It’s complete with mint Indy Stage 3s and Bullet 97s. As the seller states, “This board is so damned cherry”, and indeed it is. Even though it’s set-up, it has clearly never been ridden. The graphics are perfect and the colorway is awesome. I particularly like the Bullet sticker that he put on the tail. It matches perfectly but wasn’t standard. The only thing I’d do is remove the rails. It’s awesome. It sold for $277.
And here’s yet another nice complete. It’s a Powell Peralta Steve Caballero “full dragon” from 1986. It is complete with Indys and Vision Shredders. Actually this almost made the Bargains section because I think it went for way under what it is worth. The plastics really saved this deck, or maybe it wasn’t ever ridden much. The graphic is all there and perfect, and the trucks look untouched. There is some weird scratching on the tail, but that’s about it. Unless the big Independent sticker on the tail is covering something up it was a real bargain at $255.
OK, so let’s stop with the completes for a moment and go to a plain deck. Actually there’s nothing very plain about this one. It’s an Alva Dave Duncan “claw” from 1986 in a mouthwatering colorway of natural base and purple, red and green graphic. This thing is simply outstanding. It’s a rare graphic anyway, but this colorway is just superb, and is probably my favorite for this graphic. The super sharp photo helped too. It sold for $300.
Now we have a deck that is a little less impressive in the colorway arena but is rare nonetheless. It’s a Death-box Mark Van Der Eng “gouda party” from 1989. As I explained with the Goff deck last month, Death-Box decks are rare as hell in any condition, and this one isn’t bad at all. It looks faded, but the graphic appears to be pristine, and there are no obvious dings to the deck. It’s tough to tell exactly what the original color was (purple stain perhaps?), but that didn’t stop the bids from rolling in. Remove the tailbone and the crappy screaming hand sticker on the tail and you’ll be in business. It went for $206.
This is an Alva John Gibson “street” model from 1987. The funny thing is that John never really rode street, so for him to have a street model was odd. This is one of the most common Alva decks from this period, and you can still find these new at a couple of online stores. So when this one went for $175 I was very puzzled. Maybe it’s the colorway? Most you see have the classic Alva fade, but this one is in a plain green stain, which does look shiny, minty and handsome.
This is the Vision Mark Gonzales “Man and Woman” deck from 1989. The artwork is by Mark obviously, and the colorway on this one is supreme. The vibrant yellows and golds and reds really pop off the dark blue woodstain. Other colorways for this board look bland and crappy (see AOS for some examples), but this one really works and makes the graphic something special. Others must agree because it sold for $685.
So I have Netflix and have had for years. I must say that I seldom watch the DVDs anymore but I do watch the streaming content all of the time. I just watched a series called Skate Europe on there, and the German episode had lots of Claus Grabke on there, both a recent interview and vintage footage. Every time I see him or read and interview I am impressed he just seems like a really unique, interesting guy who would be a lot of fun to hang out and shoot the shit with. With this in mind, Here’s a Santa Cruz Claus Grabke “Melting Clocks” from 1989. It was the street model, so was smaller than the “Holding Back Time”. This one has been set up and skated, but is in great condition, not NOS but the next best thing. The graphic is bright and perfect, and although the tail has been retouched a little, it brought in a lot of bids. It eventually sold for $455. NOTE: a NOS version of this deck supposedly just sold privately for $1,550. It was on eBay in January for about 10 seconds before the side-deal was struck. So they do exist.
Here’s a Hosoi Skates team deck from 1989; the “Irie Eye”. It’s minty fresh, still in shrink, and in a deep, rich red dip. Although not a true Hosoi pro deck, I think it could be listed either way, especially as it’s his beady eye staring at us from the top right portion of the deck. It’s not super rare but is rare enough, especially mint. It went for $340.
It’s a funny thing about collecting. Oftentimes the most generic, crappiest decks from the 80s can end up being valuable or desirable, and so it is here with the Santa Cruz Jammer team deck from 1985. They didn’t get much more basic than this one: a plain shape with almost no concave and a one-color graphic. The kind of deck that would always end up in the bargain section and was one step above a k-mart special, but here we are 25 years later and people are bidding on it like crazy. This pink specimen ended up going for $340. Not bad for a deck that most of us wouldn’t have touched with a 10-foot pole back then.
So you want pink? Well here’s a very fleshy looking JFA deck from 1985. These tings were absolutely massive, like 32”x 12” or something like that. Brian Brannon always rocked the Indy 215s for skating all of those big desert ditches and fullpipes, so he needed a man-sized deck to handle that I guess. So here it is, big, pink and paisley. Let’s leave it at that. $235.
SO this month in the 80s section I have some really old graphics for well-known pros that you might not have seen before. We have a Ruff later, but first how’s about this Madrid Ken Park “Shattered Crystal Ball” from 1985? It’s been used and abused, that’s for sure, but the graphic is almost complete and still looks bright. It comes complete with Trackers and Ratbones. The question is, did he skate for Madrid prior to Town and Country or was Town and Country first? Does anybody else care about this kind of stuff other than me? $100.
Now this is just excellent. It’s a Skull Skates Tod Swank “Justin Lovely Coffee Pot” from 1988. Justin Lovely was the fictional pro skater that Tod Swank made up, and this was Justin’s first “pro” model, It was supposedly VERY limited, with only 500 decks being made. Some have the block Skull logo on the tail while some do not. Tod has always had a killer graphic style, and this is simple but beautiful. I love this deck. Awesome. $555.
We appear to have featured a ton of Eric Nash decks recently, and here’s another! It’s the Sims Eric Nash “bandito 2” from 1988. It features the original bandito character but this time with bigger cacti, and with a wanted poster that features the skater’s name. The graphic runs almost full bleed, and features a lizard that looks similar to the graphic on his mini model that would follow. The colorway here is great: the greens really work on the natural background, and the white smoke and Sims logo looks great. That’s a nice looking deck. $480.
I know when some of you see this you will be kicking yourselves because Olson decks are highly prized, and especially this one. It’s a Skull Skates Steve Olson “checkered” from 1986, and it appears to be in excellent condition. There are no obvious dings or scratches anywhere, and the top is super-clean too. The top graphic is pristine and the griptape looks untouched. Somebody got a killer deal here, and maybe that’s because the auction was titled “Wintage Steve Olson Scakeboard”. Yes, that’s scakeboard. If this thing was ever ridden, then the plastics really did their job. Remove those and the trucks and you have a killer looking piece of skate history. $402.
And talking about decks that folks will be pissed that they missed, here’s a Sims “Pharaoh” team deck from 1986. It’s been set-up and drilled for rails etc, but even so, you can still see the attraction of this deck. Nothing has looked like it before or since, and like the Skull Skates “Dead guys” coffin deck, it is the perfect marriage of shape and graphic. The screen work is amazing, and the colors are still bright and vibrant. People have different memories of this deck back in the day. It wasn’t a pro model, it seemed kitschy, and it was a Sims, which by 1986 was not a hip company. So these sat on the shelves for ages. At a time when everybody wanted to look tough or cool, this deck was neither so everybody ignored it until it was gone. Fast forward 25 years and everybody would love to have one, and some have paid lots and lots of money for that privilege! There is certainly something about this deck… This one sold for $364.
Here’s a deck that is featured for its colorway above all else. It’s a Schmitt Stix “Ripsaw” mini from 1987. The full sized deck had the three blades on it, while the mini only had the center one. There are two versions of the mini, one with smaller lightning bolts, while this version has them going from tail to nose. It’s a far superior version of the graphic, and this colorway is just superb. The grey woodstain is a perfect neutral base for the yellow and red lightning bolts. Like all Schmitt Stix decks, this thing just screams quality. I love the shape of this too. I can remember that Karl Kingery, a member of our crew had this deck after he wore out his Lance Mountain future primitive. It was like driving a sports car after a big ass SUV. Good memories. $471.
Neil, what’s the deal? A Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp for the third month in a row? It’s official: I am going mental! But I’ll say it again, the third version of this graphic (i.e., this one) is by far the best graphic to ever grace a Roskopp deck, and this colorway is superb. The orange and yellow literally jump off of the white dip, which is a very effective thing for this graphic. It’s been drilled for nose, rails and tail, but the plastics have been removed, and the thing looks great. It also didn’t hurt that he gave a shout out to skateandannoy and Baywatch in his auction listing, but brycecapades, word to the wise, Kilwag doesn’t write this, houseofneil does! We’ll let it slide this once. It went for a huge $570.
OK, so as I mentioned earlier we have a couple of early, seldom seen graphics in the 80s section this month. You saw the Madrid Ken Park above, and here is the G&S Billy Ruff “Invisible Man” from 1983. It’s complete with Indy Stage 2s and red Kryptonics and some of the most chewed up and mismatched plastics that you’ve ever seen. The colorway is appalling and the graphic is so basic and crappy that it’s verging on Nash territory, and I don’t mean Eric Nash. All in all though it is very early, and it isn’t one you see very often, so enjoy it in all its crapulence. $155.
And from a couple of years later we have this G&S Billy Ruff “Chalice” from 1985. Now, the graphics are still rather obvious and cheesy, but compared to the nonsense above this is a masterpiece! This one has been set up and is drilled for all the major plastics, and is yellowed with age. The graphic is all there however, and the deck is in good shape overall: no major scratches or dings. SO if the graphics told us anything about the skaters that they represent, we can guess that Billy Ruff was really into magic and going to the renaissance faire. He sounds like a party. $103.
Here’s another deck that gets in on colorway, not on graphic merit. Now we all know that the Powell Peralta Skull and Sword graphic, originally give to Ray “Bones” Rodriguez is an iconic graphic, arguably one of the greatest of all time, but Powell has used it so much throughout the decades that we are all becoming immune to it. It’s almost invisible to me now, and Powell have even started mocking it, what with the skull and camera and skull and candy cane “special” graphics that they put out recently. So I normally don’t feature it unless it is a Ray Bones, but this 1987 team deck really does look outstanding. The shape is the same as the Powell bug with the flat nose and money bump on the hips, and that really works with the full bleed, medieval looking skeleton duotone that takes up the background. Then in the foreground we have the super bright, yellow, red and white main graphic. It all works really well together, simply outstanding, and it sold for $372.
Look on eBay at any time and I can guarantee that you will find about 10 Alva Fred Smith “Loud One” models up there for sale. It must have been the best selling mid 80s Alva deck of all time, and normally I avoid it, but there is something about this one that I really like. The deep gold stain and simple blue and white graphic make it look classic and uncluttered, different from all of the others out there for some reason. I really dig this one. It sold for only $100, which speaks to the amount out there I think, not the quality of this deck. I bought this deck from Fatz back in the day in red and green after my Natas 1 wore out, but couldn’t get used to the steep tail so I sold it to Kilwag and bought a red Natas 2 instead. Kilwag broke the Smith in the first hour on a launch ramp. Steep tail + launch ramp = misery.
Here’s a Blockhead Street Standard team deck from 1989. It features a classic Andy Jenkins graphic of a kid having fun doing railslides on a parking block while the irate motorist bakes inside his car. Apparently the motorist is from the 1950s judging by his car and hat, but we won’t judge the artist! Or maybe the whole piece is supposed to be from the 1950s and the kid was just super rad for the time. Who knows? What I do know is that I love this graphic, always have. $143.
Here’s a Schmitt Stix John Lucero “Street Thing” from 1988, his last deck on Schmitt before he teamed up with Santa Cruz. The colorway here is superb: the red stain is really, really deep, the blue and white on the side give it a sense of movement and could be like flames on a hot rod, and the peace symbol and smiley face give it a nice 70s vibe. This is a simple but excellent piece of graphic design, and like all things Schmitt it just reeks of quality. That is one nice deck, and an under rated one too. It normally goes right under the radar. $405.
So I thought that I could go a while month with no Natas, Tony Hawk or Jason Jessee, but then this Santa Cruz Jason Jessee “sungod” came up, and it sold for such a high price that I had to mention it. Yes it’s mint in shrink, but the colorway is very average in my humble opinion, and I’ve never really been a fan of this graphic at all. There are 2 versions of the graphic, and this is the more rare second version. The first has more of a pointy nose and the graphic is smaller with the Santa Cruz logo on the tail. This one has a blunt nose and the graphics run nose to tail. Still, it normally goes in the $700 range, so for this to sell for $2,199 seems rather strange. Some of you probably love this colorway though, so I guess it’s in the eye of the beholder.
And finally from the 80s section we have a fistful of argyles. Uncle Wiggley “argyles” that is. Uncle Wiggley made this iconic graphic for years, and there were 3 distinct versions. All three went off in January, so let’s take a look. The first argyle had the simple 50s wallpaper looking design with the red and black checkerboard run through with red lines. The tear out graphic portion was in black. The second version has a much busier design with alternating black and white lines on a denser background, more like you’d see on a kilt. The tear out went to white this time. The third and final version had the same background but dropped the black lines altogether make it seem less busy. The white tear out remained. The first remains my favorite personally. The first and second sold for $299, while the third sold for $200.
90s-present day
First up in the 90s section this month is this 101 “Vampire Girl” team deck from 1994. It’s in black dip, and still mint in shrink. It’s got a little bit of a coffin/longboard feel to it, but I don’t know the dimensions, so that might not be accurate; I might be reacting to the look of the board. Anybody know? It went for $308.
Next up is this Alva Skates Justin Lynch “Joust” from 1989. This is a pretty unusual Alva deck. It certainly isn’t the proto-typical Alva graphic: in fact it doesn’t say Alva anywhere on the bottom graphic. It appears to have a dragon sitting on top of the world with a smiling Justin Lynch below it. He has a sword between his legs for some reason. If I didn’t already know it I would have no idea what brand this deck was. Maybe that confused everybody because it only sold for $130.
And here’s Powell Peralta Lance Mountain “Doughboy II” from 1991. It’s obviously a rehash of his classic Future Primitive graphic, but this time using his own doughboy figure in place of the cave paintings. It’s a funny idea and it works in places, but is let down by the totally crap lettering and by the completely generic shape. This one is in a strange pinky-red stain that is neither one thing nor the other, and is strangely unappealing all the way around. In other colorways (particularly the black dip) this deck looks pretty awesome and it rises above its drawbacks, but it totally fails here. $108.
Here we have a Plan B Sean Sheffey “troll” slick from 1992. It is one of those collage decks that were so popular for a few months, but I absolutely hate the fucking thing. It sums up all that was wrong with the 90s for me. I assume that the images are a combination of a lot of things near and dear to Sean at the time, so we have pictures of MLK, Malcolm X, Mike Tyson, and something by the Gonz. It is a total mess and smacks of lazy design. Hell, We all did shit like this when we were 7 years old in school. It’s a totally disposable graphic for a disposable time. But It sold for $931 so I guess lots of folks would disagree with me.
And here’s an H-Street Chad Vogt “penguin” complete from 1991. Even though it’s been setup the graphic is in NOS condition: it looks totally unskated apart from a little wear on the tail. It comes complete with Indys and Toxic wheels. The wheels aren’t total bearing caps, but they aren’t far away! Despite the crappy, cutesy graphic it’s actually an interesting snapshot in time. The deck still has some size and shape and isn’t a complete poopsicle, but the wheels are starting to get tiny. It’s a nod to the future with a foot in the past. Anyway it sold for $213.
Assorted Crap
You want something really, really rare? Well how about this NOS set of Blackhart wheels complete with original bearings? They’ve never been used, and they look as shiny and perfect as they day they were originally sold. The side graphics are super sharp and they are in black, which is a nice touch too. To some of you these are nothing more than another set of wheels, but some of you have boners looking at these, right? They went for $400.
OK, so we had the Dave Duncan “claw” deck above in the 80s section, so if you were riding that deck then you might as well get the t-shirt to match, and here it is! The shirt is old and word and has bleach stains on the front, but it’s still pretty frigging sweet! It’s a size large, and has the cool-ass Alva logo small on the front along with the claws. This rules and the buyer has my complete respect. It sold for $48.
And speaking of t-shirts we have this G&S Fiberflex “Performance Team” t-shirt from 1977. It was a team only issued shirt, and it actually has the small pocket on the front, you know, where that mini logo goes on the left breast. The seller is Marty Schaub who was on the team and who snagged this shirt. It’s in good condition and is a size large. It sold for $103. As nice as this is, I’d still prefer the Duncan shirt.
And to round off this section this month we have this set of good condition Independent Stage I FW 151 trucks. There are some grind marks but overall they are super clean. They have the original Stage I baseplates that had the fixed kingpin. They even come with the Variflex Clouds big-ass red bushings and the original Indy copers! They sold for $191.
Let’s start with a bang! Somebody is really going to be kicking themselves for missing this one! It’s a Santa Cruz Eric Dressen “tattoo” deck from 1989. It’s very lightly used and apart from the holes for the tail guard and the wood screw marks where the rails were it looks NOS. Part of the graphic looks faded but it isn’t. Look at the blowup. Some of the tribal marks are in black outlined in aqua, while others are in a plain blue. It’s a really intricate and fine looking deck when you look at it, but everybody must have missed it because there was only 1 bid and it sold for only $89.
And the sleeping must have continued through this deck too. It’s a Madrid Eddie Elguera “Styles” deck from 1988. It’s on a striking orange dip with red splatter, and yes it’s NOS. It’s never been mounted, never been gripped, and has some minor scuffs but nothing terrible. It’s a great looking deck from 22 years ago, and yet it only sold for $70. No, I can’t explain it.
Even though this one looks like a toy I’m assuming that this is an authentic, original Hosoi hammerhead complete from 1986. The tailbone is the authentic shape, made just for this deck, the trucks are old Indys (they almost look like stage Is), and the wheels are crossbones. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this colorway before for a Hosoi hammerhead, and while it makes lit look more like a toy store deck, it also makes it more unusual. The board is in overall very good condition, so the $45 price seems ludicrous.
This is a Public Skates “Crime Scene” team deck from 1991. Public Skates was a company founded out of his garage by Eddie Reategui after the Alva team fell apart, and right before he started Focus with Christian. This is one of the very few desks that they put out. The graphic is very early 90s, and although the colorway isn’t special, it’s still an interesting looking deck from an interesting time in skating’s history. I guess nobody else agrees because it sold for $50.
OK, here’s a deck that deserved to go higher than it did as much for it’s insane griptape job than for anything else! It’s a Sims “New Wave” team deck from 1985. The deck is your basic early 80s Sims: flat with wheel wells and pig shape, with the only nod to the present/future being the very obvious and clichéd graphics that somehow suggested new wave to somebody who clearly didn’t get out enough. The deck has been setup but hasn’t been ridden much because the graphics are basically perfect. Now I blast the graphics, but they are beautifully executed. The yellow flash looks 3D, almost like it’s rising off of the deck. That must have been an insane screen job. But the most insane thing is the grip job. It echoes the graphic but does it really well. How many blades were dulled and how many fingers shredded making this? It’s just awesome. Look at the trouble we used to go to! It sold for $69.
And finally this month we have this Powell Peralta Per Welinder street model complete. The setup is a real clusterfuck, but don’t let that detract you. The back truck is a white Tracker while the front is a green Gullwing. The wheels are OJ IIs. There is some tail wear, but overall the graphic is almost perfect. Remove the trucks, the rails, and that stupid Fingerboard sticker from the tail and you have a really nice black Per Welinder street deck for only $45.
Editor’s note: I meant to forward this to Neil but he didn’t get until after he worte the column. He was going to let it slide but I thougth it warranted a mention. This is a G&S Doug “Pineapple” Saladino Street Cruiser from 1982. The board is weathered to hell, and the graphic looks like it’s about ready to peel off. But still, it’s not one you see very often, and the ACS trucks it came with are made from magnesium. Seems like a good price for an uncommon setup from that era. If nothing else, you could light the trucks and watch them burn underwater. Not bad for $87.
Seeya next month.
-Neil
