eBay Watch: April 2012

So welcome to eBayWatch, April 2012 edition. And what a month it has been! I don’t remember a month in recent memory having so many interesting and high-priced decks go off at the same time. The Natas is insane, but so is the Dogtown Biniak. And honorable mention has to go to the Billy Ruff and the Brand X Deadhead!

A couple of weeks ago I watched the documentary “You Weren’t There” which documents the rise of the punk scene in Chicago. It starts very strong with emphasis on the original punk clubs like La Mére Vipere, Oz, and O’Bannon’s. As with the early punk scene in most cities, those early days were a glorious melting pot of clothing styles, sexual preferences and musical influences. A lot of the early clubs were gay bars that started putting bands on one night a week, and things grew from there. There are interviews with club owners, DJs, and band members. Those early “punk” bands were an artsy mess on the whole. We don’t get to the meat of the story until the late 70s changes into the early 80s and you start to see what was to become the Chicago punk bands that most people know about, like The Effigies, Naked Raygun, Big Black, and later Articles of Faith. You get fascinating interviews with most of the folks in the scene, and the highlights include interviews with Jeff Pezzati (the pictures of him in his pre Naked Raygun metal band are hilarious) and Steve Albini, who appears to hate pretty much everybody who was ever involved in the scene in any way. Of particular interest to me was the intense hatred between The Effigies and Articles of Faith. I always thought that was exaggerated, but no, the hatred was and still is there! But after that the movie falls apart very quickly, and the last hour bears on unwatchable! We get an hour of crappy bands like Negative Element and Rights of the Accused, bands that were the perpetual warm up acts for any decent bands that came through Chicago. Crap basically, so I’m not sure why they get so much play. And particularly depressing to me was the attitude of all the old punk “legends” towards new punk bands. To a man they sound like bitter, jaded old farts. “We did it first”, “They are just copying us” “They are all sound the same”! The familiar cry of the apathetic that can’t be bothered to discover some of the great new bands that are out there. So basically the first 90 minutes is riveting but the last hour is fucking awful. It’s recommended for any folks with a Chicago background or fans of The Effigies or Naked Raygun. Other than that I’d say don’t bother.

60s, 70s, early 80s.

First up this month is this Astral complete from 1979. It comes complete with first gen Indys and Kryptonics CX66 wheels. I don’t know much about the deck company I’m afraid, apart from the fact that it might have been located in Santa Cruz. The first gen Indys look great, and may actually be worth more than the deck! It has the gnarly pizza grip up top, guaranteed to rip off 10 layers of skin! The whole thing is very clean overall, and it sold for $324.

And talking of clean, you haven’t seen clean until you’ve seen this Dogtown Bob Biniak “Bullet Design” from 1978! I mean just look at this thing! Jesus Christ! That thing looks like it came from the screeners yesterday! Even the griptape is clean and razor sharp! And it even comes with the original Dogtown box that it was shipped in. This thing is unreal. It sold for $2,551.

Here we have a Sims Brad Bowman “Digital” deck from 1981. It’s in the 70s section because I think of Brad as a 70s skater though. Anyway, this is a FE series deck, meaning Fiberglass Epoxy. The deck is in great used condition. The tail and nose guard have done a great job, and the rails have protected the graphic. You might think it’s white and pink but it’s actually silver and fuchsia, and that works great on the blue dip. It sold for $761.

And here we have a very nice looking Kryptonics foam core team deck from 1979. The deck is made of fiberglass and foam and to protect it, it has the band of urethane around the sides with P-Tex on the bottom. They use P-tex on skis, and the whole technology behind this deck was basically ski technology! It comes complete with unknown trucks (they look very interesting though; what are they?) and Kryptonics wheels. It is super clean and it sold for $645.

Here we have a very old Santa Cruz deck, probably from 1978. It has the classic Santa Cruz strip logo, this time in a rainbow fade. The natural wood finish is shiny and beautiful, and it comes from the same stash as the Dogtown Biniak above. He must have kept them in a temperature controlled chamber or something! It’s another awesome looking deck and it sold for $413.

Here we have another old Santa Cruz deck. This one is the Santa Cruz Stinger from 1978. Interestingly enough, the bottom Stinger graphic is gone, and the underneath is plain yellow with three green diagonal SC stickers across it. It comes complete with Indys, but I can’t tell the vintage because they have copers on them. The wheels are unmarked and look generic. It’s in decent used shape and is a real oddity! It sold for $599.

Here we have a Sims Lonnie Toft 8-wheeler, complete with 4 Tracker Halftrack trucks and 8 Sims Mini-Comp wheels. It’s in good used condition, and has a ton of vintage stickers in the bottom. We have a Norcon helmets sticker, a huge Pepsi sticker, Z-Flex, Tracker Trucks, and some kind of International Skate Association sticker. It’s a real historical artifact really, and you don’t see too many as solid as this one is. It sold for $1,075 on 20 bids.

And finally from the 70s (60s actually) this month we have this vintage Tuk’n’Roller, all the way from 1965! It’s the original padded-top skateboard, made to match your car upholstery! Naugahyde vinyl? Hello? How cool is that? This came in different colors, and this one is in the metal flake “Rat Fink Red”. All hardware is authentic and it still comes with the original Sure Grip clay wheels. The trucks have some rust and the binding around the tail is broken away, but still, this is an awesome piece of 60s nostalgia. It sold for $300.

Mid 1980s

So first up in the 80s section this month we have this G&S Bod Boyle “Compass” from 1988. It comes complete with Trackers and Rat Bones. It’s in decent used condition, but is a deck that you don’t see particularly often. The Bod “Stained Glass” yes, but the “compass”, no. The seller matched the rails to the shark, which is a nice touch. The deck has some fading but no major dings, which is a plus. It sold for $250.

And he we have a real beauty! It’s a Powell Peralta Ray “Bones” Rodriguez “Skull and Sword” in really nice condition. It’s in red dip as well! But that’s not what makes this one so interesting. It comes complete with Lazer trucks and Kryptonics CX66 wheels. The wheels and trucks look almost unused, and the deck is in really nice condition too. The white rails and dual power pivots are a nice touch too. I would remove the white Caution sticker by the rail, but that’s about it. It’s an awesome complete and it sold for $456.

This doesn’t need much of an introduction, but I will if you really want me to. It’s a Seaflex “Boomcat” from 1982. If you get lucky enough to see this deck at all it’s normally in white dip, so the blue dip is a REALLY nice find! Yes it’s been used, but it just has some scratches around the outside. The graphic is all there and complete. The Yoyo sticker interferes with the graphic so I’d rip that right off. And get rid of the Powell sticker on the tail. But apart from that this thing is awesome. It sold for $270.

Holy shit! How the hell would you even begin to describe how awesome this deck is! It’s a Brand X ‘Dedhead” from 1984. It is NOS, never mounted or gripped. The graphic is simple and totally Brand X, and the screening job in the yellow to green fade in the splat is typically excellent. Now, this looks like a most excellent metallic blue dip to me, but the seller claims it’s metallic silver, so either he’s colorblind or his digital camera sucks balls. Maybe both. Whatever the case though, this thing is fantastic. It sold for $790 on 12 bids.

And here’s another Brand X deck, this one being the “Fingerprint” from 1986. It has a nice green to yellow background with lots of other colors spread throughout the main graphic. It’s in really good used condition, and although the plastics need to be ripped off and the Bones sticker removed, it was still a really good score for $450. All Brand X decks are selling for big cash these days.

Now this one is another that you don’t see very often! It’s an Airbourne Peanut Brown “video arcade” from 1988. It’s the full size or vert size model. It’s NOS, never used or gripped. The natural background is kind of boring here, but the yellow splash kind of makes up for it. It’s an interesting shape, and a rare one from both a company and skater that you don’t see too often. It sold for $290 on 46 bids.

Now here’s an interesting one. It’s a Powell Peralta Steve Caballero “Ban This Dragon” in mint (shrink) condition, but that isn’t why I chose to feature it. It’s the fantastic looking wood grain that makes it so interesting. The green stain is beautiful, but the natural wood bleeding through in patches makes it truly memorable, and one of a kind. It sold for $675.

And staying with beautiful colorways, we have this Santa Cruz Eric Dressen “Celtic Rose” deck from 1989. As with the Cab above, the deck is mint in shrink, but it is the colorway that makes this one. The cool photography helps too! Nice angles and clear with good color. The dark stain with gold and blue graphic really works, giving this an understated elegance and sense of power. This is a great looking deck in any colorway, but this one is really special. It sold for $540.

One talking about great colorways, here follows a couple of Vision Gator II decks. Both are in excellent, unusual colorways. The first is a highly unusual aqua, light green and orange. It’s a really striking deck, and comes complete with yellow Trackers (with blue copers) and green Vision Blurrs. I would keep this as a complete because it all works beautifully together. It’s in very nice used condition, and it sold for $335.

And here’s another Vision Gator II. This one has been gripped but never ridden, so the deck is basically NOS. The blue to green to yellow in the swirls works really well over the red stain, and the white and blue gator name block really stands out. It’s another fantastic looking Gator, and this one sold for $560 on 4 bids.

Here we have a Madrid Claus Grabke “Time Warp” from 1986. After he quit Powell Peralta he rode for Madrid for just long enough to get a pro model, and then it was on to Santa Cruz. This one has never been gripped or set up, but I wouldn’t call it NOS because it is horribly scuffed and scarred and discolored. Still, it is a pretty rare deck and this one has been signed by Mr. Grabke. It sold for $283.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Jeff Kendall “Atom Man” from 1990. Now pay careful attention to this one because it will be mentioned again later! This one was never gripped but did have trucks mounted at one point. So it’s not mint but is the next best thing. The dark grey stain isn’t the best colorway, but it’s not bad, and let’s not forget that this is an original deck from 22 years ago. Does that give it away? It sold for $365.

Here we have a great looking Schmitt Stix John Lucero X2 from 1987. It’s totally NOS, never mounted or gripped and totally desirable. The natural colorway really works here because of the “wear” marks on the prison door. It is seamless, and the green and yellow jester looks evil. It’s a superior hunk of wood, and it fetched a superior price: $1,600 on 25 bids.

Now here is a real beauty! It’s a SMA (World Industries) Jesse Martinez “Man Size” from 1989. It’s NOS, never mounted or gripped. It’s pink stained on the top and natural on the bottom. The graphic is super complex and uses a ton of different colors. It’s actually kind of a mess when you think about it, but it fits him, and it even says “1989 the year of the mess” in the graphic! It sold for $400.

Here we have a Powell Peralta Mike McGill “Fish” from 1990. It’s not one that you see everyday: we are down at the stern with McGill skull and snakes, but this one is probably his last great graphic. Well the ‘Aquarium” was great too now I think about it. I guess he had a ting about fish? Anyway, This one is in a handsome red stain, and has been gently ridden. It has some scratches and has been drilled for rails, but it looks great from the picture. It sold for a large $500 which seems like a lot considering that it isn’t even NOS, but it is a nice looking deck.

Here we have Schmitt Stix Chris Miller “Dog” from 1988. This one is NOS, never mounted or gripped, and it might be the best colorway I’ve ever seen for this deck. The bright yellow dip with blue and orange and green dog creature is amazing. It’s so bright! It sold for $1,096

And here we have a Zorlac Donny Myhre “Alligator” from 1988. It’s NOS, never mounted or gripped, and in an excellent colorway. This is one of those “later” Zorlacs with graphics by Pushead that are really starting to explode in value. Abrook, Stanton, Myhre, Mertz. All really taking off with collectors. This one sold for $553.

And here is the jewel in the crown for this month. It is the very first NOS SMA Natas “face” that I have ever seen. Plus it is in the super desirable black dip! Seriously, this is almost a once in a decade deck. We won’ t be seeing another soon, I can almost guarantee that! It does have some storage marks etc., but really, that is like finding flaws in Selma Hayek! It is NOS and it is amazing. And it sold for $4,272.

You know that I normally go on about removing stickers and trucks etc. to leave the deck looking as great as it can? Well forget that in this case! It’s a Skull Skates Steve Olson “Falling Checkers” from 1985. It comes complete with Gullwings and Kryptonics and rail, nose and tail. It also has plenty of stickers under there! I Can see Thrasher, Skull Skates, Bullet, and a bunch of cycle shops. I would probably remove the round might mouse one, but I’d leave the rest. It hangs together really well as a complete. I did the graphic in red and silver too. I never used to like it but now I do. Others must too, because it sold for $762 on 19 bids.

Here is a Vision Lee Ralph “Contortionist” from 1987. It’s NOS and in an absolutely beautiful metallic silver dip with orange and black graphic. It’s a real head turner this one! It sold for $762, exactly the same amount as the Olson above. That’s quite a coincidence!

Here we have yet another gorgeous deck. This one is a G&S Billy Ruff “Chalice” and it is from Billy’s personal collection. It is one of the first runs of the graphic I guess, and is in a most excellent natural colorway with silver and purple graphic. Of course it is NOS, and Billy signed it on the tail. It’s by far the best chalice that I’ve ever seen. It sold for $635.

And the hits just come on coming in April! Here we have a might early Santa Cruz “Street Skate” team deck from 1980. I’m not sure if the deck is wood or fiberglass actually, so maybe it belongs in the 70s section, but the graphic looks early 80s to me. The topside of the deck looks completely 70s with the classic strip of griptape up there, but like I say, the graphic looks early 80s SC. It comes with very rare Rebound trucks but no wheels. It sold for $228 on 13 bids. Does anybody know anything about this one?

Here we have a Sims Buck Smith “Sun Face” from 1988. It’s NOS, never gripped or setup. It’s in a great deep purple stain with super bright yellow, pink and pale blues in the main graphic. It’s one of those decks that used to be second tier, but has really come on as of late. This one sold for $588 on 25 bids.

So, even though this Powell Peralta Steve Steadham has been reissued in a bout a billion different colorways over the last 10 years that has done nothing to hurt the value of the original. This “Spade” stinger is NOS and about as clean as you will ever find. The colorway has the classic red and white stripes, and this is first class all the way round. It sold for a first class price too: $2,275 on 14 bids. That is major coin!

And let’s stick with classic Powell Peralta decks. Here we have the Mike Vallely “Elephant” from 1988. Much like the Steadham, this has been reissued a billion times by PP, but the original still fetches primo coin. This dark blue dip model is an unusual colorway, and it is NOS, never mounted or gripped. All early PP decks are going for insane prices right now, and this was no exception, going for $1,530 on 10 bids.

And let’s stick with Powell Peralta just one more time. Here we have the classic “Vato Rat” or “Ratbones” from 1984. You would be hard pressed to fins a better specimen than this one. It’s NOS, in silver dip with red and black graphics. It’s simple and amazing. Apparently it has the rare, first edition “fat tail” dragon on the top dragon, which doesn’t mean much to me but does to PP fanatics I guess. It sold for $1,600.

And finally from the 80s this month we have this Wiggley Designs (Uncle Wiggley) “Honeycomb” team deck from 1987. Like all Uncle Wiggley decks it has the epoxy/fiberglass construction, and has the rivets in the nose to keep the nose from splintering in frontal collisions. This used to be a fairly common and inexpensive deck, but no more if this auction is indicative of values! This one sold for an amazing $504 on 16 bids. Wowzer!

90s-present day

Here we have an NOS Alien Workshop Steve Berra “Paratrooper” from 2003. It has been signed on the tail. It sold for $213. Note of interest: Along with Eric Koston he founded The Berrics, the private skatepark in LA: Berra + Eric = Berrics.

Here we have a World Industries Ron Chatman “3 Clowns” from 1992. It is NOS, and is supposedly the very deck pictured in Disposable. It’s a ridiculously ugly graphic but is a rare one, and it sold for $1,000.

Here’s a Powell Peralta Lance Conklin “Church of Skatin” from 1993. Now the top graphic on this has a large sun and tribal patterns doodled on it. I don’t think it is part of the original top graphic but it is really well done so I’m not too sure? Anyway, the owner found it on the street with a bunch of other trash after somebody had moved. Nice score, because it sold for $415.

Here’s a 101 Jason Dill “Pooh” from 1994. It is NOS and is a nice looking graphic for this timeframe. There’s nothing gangster or violent about it. The full color is sweet too. It sold for $666.

Here we have a Flip Rune Glifberg “Clockwork Orange” slick deck from 1996. He had another Clockwork Orange deck on Flip during the same period, so it must have meant a lot to him. This graphic is actually pretty naff. Instead of looking like a tough droogie he actually looks like a gay butcher with a silly hat. But I digress. It’s NOS etc. etc. and it sold for $400.

Here we have a Real Tommy Guerrero “Elvis” slick from 1992. Real had a series of decks featuring their pros in fancy dress. Thiebaud is in a bunny suit, and Salman Agah is dressed as a fairy. The story goes that when Real took over their new warehouse the previous owners had left all these costumes behind, so Real thought it would be funny to dress up the pros and make their new graphics. The decks are cheesy as hell, but kind of funny I guess. This one sold for $450.

Here’s an Anti-Hero Andy Roy “Devil Noose” from 1997. It was part of a series of tattoo art themed decks from Anti-Hero that year. It’s NOS, and while itself is pretty unimpressive, having the whole set together would be a really nice accomplishment. It sold for $209.

Finally here’s a World Industries Jovontae Turner “Hiding Slave” from 1993. The deck has been gripped and ridden, but is still in very good used condition. The graphic is typical Turner: He previously had the “Jovontae at Night” and the “Napping Negro” so he liked to hit that clichéd “whites are racist” “angry black” vibe. It all seems very obvious, very silly and not helpful to me, but I’m old and jaded. The deck sold for $660.

Assorted Crap

So first up in the miscellaneous section this month we have this NOS set of Sims Brad Bowman B-52 wheels from 1982ish. They are the rare full size wheel, double conical, and in a nice grape color. These would look great on any early 80s Sims Andrecht or Bowman! They sold for $205.

So here’s a Santa Cruz collage logo banner from 1990. It features a lot of the classic SC board graphics and NHS logos from the time, including Independent trucks, Cell Blocks, Speed Wheels, etc., and graphics from Lucero, Grabke, Kendall, Salba etc. It sure is a lot of fun, but at the end of the day it’s a 3’ by 3’ banner, so $600 seems a bit extreme. I assume it’s proudly displayed in somebody’s den right now, being enjoyed by about 3 people max!

Damn, this collection is sick! This British collector decided to collect one of each color of the original, first gen Kryptonics Star Trac wheels. You know, the ones with the raised lettering on the flat outer surface. So we have green translucent, orange translucent, solid yellow, solid blue, solid red and a solid burned orange. They are all brand new and some even have the original bearings still in them. It’s a mad collection and one that took years to put together probably! They deserve to remain together, and they sold for $550.

So here’s a set of the original Z-Roller trucks. Yes, the original “Fat Roller” version where the rollers even had their own bearings on either side of the roller. So if your wheel broke off you could keep right on rolling along just on the truck! Personally I never saw the point of these. It’s like having one big wheel built into the truck like those crazy Hobie Sundance boards from the mid 70s. So a grind really isn’t a grind. It’s more like a middle roll! This set have been used, but are still in very good condition. They sold for $800.

So how much would a NOS set of the original Z-Rollers sell for? Well for $1,134 apparently. This set has the original bushings and look as clean as clean can be. The auction had 29 bids. It looks like you could slap some paint on these, remove the wheels and ride around on a piece of canvas to do some skate art.

So here we have our obligatory overpriced reissue auction of the month. Remember that earlier in the 80s section we had a NOS Jeff Kendall ‘Atom Man”? It sold for $365. Well here we have a reissued Kendall “Atom Man” from the “Thirty F’in Years” series of reissues from about 2005. Yes the red dip is nice, but let’s not forget that this deck is only 7 years old. It’s a reissue. It’s not original in any shape or form. So for this to sell for $535 when the original only went for $365 is freaking insanity! All I can think of is that there are a lot of new collectors who missed out on the original runs of the reissues. They might also be younger so they don’t draw the same distinction between an original and a reissue because they don’t remember either. Somebody else explain it because I cannot.

See ya next month.

-Neil