eBay Watch: January 2012

Welcome to eBayWatch, January 2012 edition. Well, if you cast your mind back to December, I was worried that January was looking pretty lame after the crazed auctions hat led up to Xmas, but I needn’t have worried. January still had plenty of fun decks that went off, some at high prices, some at reasonable ones. I’ve tried to show a good mix, and I think it was a strong and interesting month overall!

So musically this month I have two bands that I have had on repeat, both on the treadmill and in the car while driving around doing my day job. They are “It’s New” by New York Ramones-core band The New Rochelles, and ‘Survival of the Sickest” by German psychobilly stalwarts Mad Sin. The New Rochelles are Ronnie, Ricky, and Rookie, and they power through twelve tracks in 14 minutes. They are fast, simple and to the point. Why take 5 minutes to say something when you can say it in 90 seconds? Songs about static shock, Tina’s toothache and a skunkape, whatever the fuck that is! It’s fun as hell so check it out. And Mad Sin? Classic psychobilly with the sense of humor that’s missing with many bands in the genre. Yes they sing about demons and zombies, but they also sing about falling down drunk and being generally idiotic. Great songs, great sound and well put together lyrics. Again, it’s a lot of fun. Give the psycho banditos a chance!
The New Rochelles album is brand new and the Mad Sin is from 2002 if you were wondering.

60s, 70s, early 80s.

So let’s start off January with this beautiful G&S Bowlrider, complete with ACS 651s and red 2nd gen Kryptonics. The complete is in beautiful condition. The trucks have no marks on them and the wheels are pristine. The deck has some damage to the underside of the nose, and has been drilled for a skidplate, but apart from that is amazing. This is a beautiful complete example of 70s elegance, and would enhance any collection. It sold for $572.

Next we have this Sims Brad Bowman “Concave” from 1980. It comes complete with Trackers, Sims “The Wheel” wheels and Sims Gold bearings. It also has the classic Tracker copers, and that enormous lapper to prevent hangups! This is a super rare model that came right after the classic BB “Superman: deck. It was one of the first Sims decks with concave. This one is missing the Snakes decals that would have been in the side cutout area, but it still is very rare. It sold for $1,295 on 20 bids.

The seller of the G&S Bowlrider I showed first up must have been selling his entire G&S collection, because from the same seller we have this immaculate G&S Henry Hester Fiberflex complete with Gullwing Split Axle trucks and Road Rider 6 wheels. Again the whole thing is simply stunning. The deck is clean with few defects, the trucks are like new, and the wheels are beyond clean. This is like a dream from the 70s gods, and it sold for $932, which seems like nowhere near enough considering that Tony Hawk decks routinely sell for two grand.

And here we have a Hobie “Super Surfer” skateboard all the way from 1963. The trucks are clean and the clay wheels are in pretty good condition, so it didn’t get much abuse back in the day. It’s an excellent chunk of early 60s skateboard history, and it sold for $319.

Here we have a classic Z-Flex Jay Adams fiberglass deck. It’s also undrilled and totally mint, making it very collectible! If you’ve never seen one in person and have only seen the flat pictures you might think that it is a thin deck, but I’ve included a shot of the nose and tail, showing just how thick and chunky it actually is. It sold for $1,699 on 30 bids.

And from the time period we have this Logan Earth Ski Bruce Logan solid oak kicktail deck from 1975. Bruce has signed it on top as you can see in the picture. The deck is 29” by 7.5” wide, and has never been drilled so you know that it has never been ridden! It sold for $440.

Here is a G&S Doug Pineapple Saladino “Pine Design” from 1978. It comes complete with Indys and YoYo wheels. I can’t really see the Indys so well but from the beefy hanger I can tell that they are not Stage I or II. It’s very clean overall, the deck looking almost NOS. It sold for $1,300 on 35 bids.

Now here is an interesting complete! It’s a Z Skate “Z-Pig” Shogo Kubo model, but that’s not the weird part. It comes with what looks like a 60s era Oak Street truck on the front and a 70s Energy Bowlrider truck on the back. To complete it we have Z Smooth Jimmy Plummer wheels. It is pretty damned clean overall, and this odd mix of things sold for $327 on 22 bids.

Here we have a classic 70s cruiser! It’s a Sims Pure Juice solid oak deck with Bennet Pro truks (their spelling, not mine), original 1st gen OJs and original red risers. It’s in solid, ridden condition with no horrendous problems. If you had this complete back in the day you could have traveled anywhere without shame! It sold for $225.

And finally from the 70s this month we have this Z-Flex Z-Pig team model, that comes complete with 2nd gen Indys and Z-Smooth Jimmy Plummer wheels. It’s a classic piece of late 70s and early 80s history that spans both eras really. You have the Skateboarder Mac sticker and Z-Pig deck that both point back to the 70s, but you have the wide Indys and the liberal use of stickers on the deck that suggest classic early 80s skatepunk to me. The whole thing is rad, and it sold for $345 on 18 bids.

Mid 1980s

So first up in the 80s section this month we have this Santa Cruz Airtech team deck. It’s one of those horrific foam decks that Santa Cruz kept experimenting with throughout the 80s, but never perfected. They were heavy and lifeless. It’s funny, but despite every material under the sun being tried for decks, we still keep coming back to plies of hard rock maple. This one is on the Keith meek Slasher shape I guess, but was probably twice as thick and twice as heavy! This deck sold for $210.

Here’s a beauty! It’s a NOS Santa Cruz Steve Alba “Voodoo” from 1988. It’s never been gripped or mounted, and although the colorway seems bland at first, the detailed and very colorful graphic actually works really well on the natural wood. Despite numerous reissues, the original still commands top dollar, and so it should! It’s an iconic deck and this one sold for $2,233.

Here we have a Vision “Batman” deck from 1989. Vision was always the first to jump on every trend, so when the first new Batman movie came out in 1989 they jumped all over it with a few themed decks. I just couldn’t imagine Powell or Santa Cruz putting anything as cheeseball as this out, but hey, what do you expect from the company that gave you berets? It sold for $600.

Here we have a G&S Neil Blender “Snake and Lattice” deck from 1984. He had a couple of decks before this, but this was his first famous graphic. It’s used but actually in very good shape with no major wear or dings. Remove the rails and clean this up and it would look great. It sold for $317.

And sticking with G&S and Neil Blender we have this NOS “Scorpion” from 1988. It has never been gripped or mounted and it is in a delectable light purple stain. It has a typically twisted Blender graphic on it, and I absolutely love it. The simpler his graphics got the more I liked them! Loved the “praying hands” and loved this one. It sold for $381.

So you want more G&S Blenders? Well here is his most iconic graphic, the “Coffee Guy” from 1987. It is super clean with just some paint scratches on the tail and normal wear elsewhere. This comes complete with Tracker trucks and Sims Nitro wheels. The red tailbone was a terrible idea and the blue rails have to go too. It sold for $516 on 21 bids.

And finally from the G&S Blender collection we have this “Driving Guy” from 1988. It is the classic G&S dual woodstain, going from natural to green stain vertically. I always thought that the graphic on this one blew goats, but the dual stain makes up for it here. It’s a great looking deck, and of course it is NOS. Surprisingly enough this went the highest of all the Blenders this month, ending at $610 on 13 bids.

So here we have a Brand X “Triangle Head” team deck from 1987. It comes complete with Ventures and Powell Mini-Cubics. The complete is in very good condition, and the deck actually looks barely touched! The colorway is excellent: the orange stain seems to glow, and the blues, greens and reds really pop off of it. It’s not the best Brand X graphic, but it’s still an eye-catcher, and it sold for $285.

And here we have an awesome Alva Bill Danforth “Circle of Skulls” from 1987. It’s in the totally excellent black to yellow fade with pink and green main graphic. It’s NOS, never mounted or setup, and is the same colorway as the Danforth C of S deck featured on AOS! I don’t know if it’s the same one, but it looks identical. It comes all the way from Australia and sold for $1,817.

Here we have a Vision Mark Gonzales “Split Face” from 1989. It’s NOS, never mounted or gripped. The blue stain is nice, and works great with the orange and yellow main graphic. It sold for $1,500, which could be a record for this deck I think.

And here we have another high priced deck. It’s a Santa Cruz Jeff Grosso “Toybox” from 1987. This one is mint in shrink, so you knew it was going to go high, but the heights it actually got to were not expected! Yes, it’s a great colorway, and it’s as perfect a specimen as you can find probably, but still, $2,599 is a lot of money. That’s about $1000 more than the next highest toybox that I can find.

Here is an Alva Hammerhead team deck from 1985. It comes complete with Trackers and OJ IIs. Christian Hosoi left Alva, shortly after coming up with the idea for the hammerhead. So this was the Alva version of the hammerhead deck. The Trackers have the nylon baseplate in case you were wondering. It is in used condition obviously, but isn’t too bad at all really. It sold for $326.

So obviously here we have the Tony Hawk rookie card. It’s his first ever pro-deck, the Powell Peralta Tony Hawk “Hawk” from 1982. This one comes complete with Indys and Bones IIIs. The deck is original and the colorway is nice and the condition is fine, but there is something fishy about the trucks and wheels. The trucks are totally pristine: not a mark on them, and the same goes for the wheels. I think this actually might have gone higher if he’d removed the trucks and wheels and just sold the deck. An original Hawk used to be a very big deal, but this one sold for $950.

So here’s a beautiful Alva Craig Johnson “El Logo Gringo” from 1986. The graphic isn’t that great, but the colorway on this deck is stunning. The light blue fade on the natural deck is a thing of beauty, and the greens, pinks and purples in the graphic work really well here. It’s a deck where the combination of its parts more than makes up for the weak graphic. It sold for $287 on 20 bids.

Here’s a Powell Peralta Lance Mountain “Crest” from 1987. It is mint in shrink, and in a very rare metallic silver dip. The seller goes on and on about the colorway, claiming he’s never seen another like it, and how beautiful it is in the light. And then he takes some of the crappiest pictures that you’ve ever seen. I had to do a lot of Photoshop work on this one to get it to look like this! Seriously, in his eBay photos there’s a green tint, making the deck look grey-green. I have no doubt that this is a stunner in person, but I think it would have gone higher than the $821 it went for if he’d put better pictures up.

So here’s a Variflex Allen Losi “pyramid” deck from 1982. It’s a very rare model, and in very solid shape, but the white has yellowed a lot throughout the years. Variflex became a joke company later on, but in the late 70s and early 80s they were right up there with Powell and Santa Cruz, and had arguably the best pro team in the world. Allen Losi was probably their best skater, and he had a number of pro models. In all his years he never had a decent graphic though, and this is no exception. Anyway, this sold for $157 on 28 bids.

Here is a rare one: the Skull Skates Justin Lovely “Teapots” deck. Justin Lovely was an invented pro from the twisted mind of Tod Swank, and the graphic was inspired after a skate trip to Great Britain I believe. Only 500 decks were made with this graphic, so it is very rare. By the spout of the front teapot it says JL153, which I assume means that it was #153? It also has the Swank Zine logo by the back teapot. It is NOS and the green/grey stain looks great. It sold for $447.

And here is a Powell Peralta Mike McGill “Skull pig” from 1984. The deck is in very good used condition, but that isn’t the reason I am featuring this deck. Much like the Alva earlier, the sum of the parts here is what makes it interesting! I just love what the original owner did with the plastics and trucks. The deck itself is has a pale blue dip with orange and green graphics. It’s OK but kind of weak. But he has attached yellow Trackers, yellow nose bone and tail and yellow rails! The thing now looks like an Easter egg! It gives it a novel and unusual look, and I love it! It sold for $455 on 20 bids.

There was a time when you would never see a Zorlac Metallica deck on eBay, but these days there is at least one per month, and normally in all kinds of cool colorways etc. January was no exception because we got this “Pirate 1” from 1986. It’s actually in one of the better colorways I’ve ever seen. I really like the natural wood, and the grain is especially beautiful on top here. Then add the pale blue and yellow/green in the main graphic and you have a real winner here. This is an interesting graphic actually, because in all the decks I’ve seen, I don’t know whether any two have the same horizontal bone. Most feature at least one joint end of the bone, but this one doesn’t have any. Also some go full bleed, while others like this one do not. It sold for $999.

Here’s a G&S Chris Miller “faces” deck form 1985. Despite being one of the best pros of the mid 80s and having that cache, none of his boards have ever really sold for big money. This one is on a metallic red dip, which is very nice, and it works well with the simple silver and black graphic. If you were after a Miller deck from the mid 80s, then this would have been a very good choice. It sold for $350.

Here we have a SMA Jesse Martinez “Handshake” deck from 1988. It’s been drilled for a tailbone but was never gripped or set up, so it displays as NOS. It’s on a beautiful red stain, and the main graphic is super colorful and bright. It’s a beautiful deck, and even though it is the mini model it still sold for $499 on 5 bids. The screeners outdid themselves here. The graphic is complex and lots of colors were used, but it looks really really good.

And here we have a Powell Peralta “Bug” team model from 1987. This is the much more common second version of the graphic, the original having the ant background instead of the checkerboard. A few years ago you could find this deck all over the internet, in any colorway, for around $80. But that was then and this is now. Everywhere is sold out, and even though this deck might never go really big, the bug has jumped in value. This blue checkerboard with red and yellow bug went for $299, and I imagine it will continue to grow (slowly) in value.

Here’s a Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp “Roskopp 2” from 1985. It’s in very good used condition. It has no major tail or nose wear. The colorway is really fantastic here. It’s on a pearlescent white dip, and it features a rainbow fade in the target and the name. It’s a very striking, very solid used board and it sold for $456.

Here we have a Dogtown Ben Schroeder “Big Ben” deck from 1988. This deck is the full size model, and is NOS, never mounted or gripped. It’s looking good on the natural stain, and the graphic has always been a favorite of mine. It ended up going for $259 on 7 bids.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Rick Demontrond “Spidey” model from 1987. This comes complete with pink Trackers and OJ2 Team Rider wheels. It was purchased at Surf Ohio in Dayton in 1987, maybe after the Valentines Day contest? If so I might have been in the shop when it was purchased! I remember getting one of those Tracker Lester oak leaf stickers at the contest too! Anyway, it’s in used condition and has obviously seen its share of use judging by the grinds on the trucks and the tail wear. But still, the graphic is all there, and it ended up going for $425 on 8 bids.

And finally from the 80s this month we have this Town & Country ‘Quad” team deck from 1985. It has been gripped and drilled for tailbone, but doesn’t look like it’s ever been ridden in anger. The deck is a little dirty but has no major scratches or dings. It ended up going for $370 on 10 bids.

90s-present day

Who remembers the comedian Tom Green? If you are new to this whole collecting thing you might not ben aware that he skated and was friends with Tony Hawk. Consequently in 2002 Birdhouse put out the Tom Green “Deerman” deck. This is the limited gold dip edition and is still mint in shrink. Yes it is an oddity, but it still isn’t a bad graphic. It sold for $235.

Here we have a Girl Rudy Johnson “Marlin” deck from 1998. It’s still mint in shrink, and was part of a fish series that Girl put out that also included a manta ray and a shark amongst others. It would be perfect for the skating deep-sea fisherman I guess! It sold for $203 on 9 bids.

Here is another Rudy Johnson deck, but this one is from his days at Blind, and is the “40 oz” deck from 1992. The white slick has started to yellow, but it is NOS: never mounted or gripped. The graphic is stupid, but it was 1992, so I guess that says it all. It sold for $644.

And staying with our tour of Rudy Johnson decks, we have this Blind “Rear End Rudy”, from the Fucked Up Blind Kids set from 1992. Yes they were pisstakes on the Garbage Pail Kids series of trading cards of the time. It’s crass and ridiculous, but is fondly remembered by some I guess because it sold for $1999 on 10 bids. Something is wrong with this one however, because just look at the placement of the graphic! It should be centered between the truck holes but this one has the graphic much too low. It was probably a factory second or something.

Here we have a Real James Kelch “Flowers” from 1992. If the graphic looks familiar it is probably because it is the logo of the Manchester band James. This one is NOS, but has been drilled for old and new school trucks. But it was never gripped or setup! It ended up going for $331 on 11 bids.

Here’s a World Industries Jovontae Turner “Chiquita Banana” deck form 1993. Like a lot of the World decks at the time, they got a cease and desist letter on this deck from Dole for stealing the logo. SO this one is a rare one, especially in NOS condition like this. It sold for $420 on 16 bids.

Assorted Crap

So here we have the highly desirable Powell Peralta “Bones Brigade World Tour 89” jacket, from 1989! It has the big logo on the back and the individual team rider logos down the sleeves. It is a very nice looking jacket, but like almost every PP jacket you see on eBay, it is a size extra small for some reason. I’ve talked about the absurdity of that before, so I won’t hammer on that again. As it is, this could be framed but probably not worn, unless you are a rich midget. It sold for $1,242.

And the madness continues! This Powell Peralta Lance Mountain reissue from about 7 years ago is routinely selling for over $500, and that continued this month, with this one going for $510. Stop the insanity!

And here we have a Powell Peralta crewneck sweatshirt from around 1988? It has the skull and sword logo on the back with a Powell Peralta banner on the front and swords down the sleeves. It’s probably a size medium, and looks like one of those super cheap weight sweatshirts that were popular in the 80s. But it’s still a nice chunk of old school and it cost $225.

So last month a short sleeved 1980s Thrasher “Skate Outlaw” t-shirt sold for $925, and sure enough this month another one appeared. This one is a long sleeved t-shirt and looks yellowed with age and a little worn and stretched out. It’s a Hanes Beefy T adult medium and was a bargain compared to the one from last month, selling for $846. Again that seems crazy though because you can still get this design from Thrasher.

And here’s a classic 1970s Vans shoes sticker. Skating barefoot was big in the 1970s, so I guess this made a lot more sense then… The sticker sold for $27.

SO let’s see some wheels! Here we have a set of Z-Groove Jimmy Plumer wheels from the late 70s. They are unused, so I guess you would call them mint! Dusty but mint. I’m not sure what the idea behind the groves was, but they sure do look cool; totally 70s. They sold for $274 on 14 bids.

And from the late 1980s we have this lightly used set of grey Zorlac Zombu wheels. They are not that rare or anything, but I have always really liked the graphic! They had this graphic on one side and the Zorlac bat graphic on the other side, along with the size and durometer. They are nice looking wheels and would look great on any 80s setup. They sold for $81.

And speaking of Zorlac we have this classic Zorlac double cut graphic t-shirt. It’s in a light purple, is a size medium, and although it has been worn a lot it is in very good shape. It’s a classic graphic, so the fact that it sold for $516 is no surprise.

See ya next month.

-Neil