eBay Watch: April 2007

You will notice some changes this month. Because it’s my column and I can do what I want, I’m dropping some of the usual big $$ boards because I’m sick of looking at them. No skull and snake McGills for example, no Jason Jessees (except for a reissue), no Roskopps (except for a reissue). If I get bored writing about tem every month, I’m sure that you get tired of seeing them. I might bring them back next month, but probably not. I’m going to try to feature some graphics you don’t see as much by some lesser-known skaters. Or team boards. They don’t sell for as much, but it makes life more interesting damnit.

This month, the column is fueled by grapefruit Izze soda, the sounds of Joan Jett, and is created on a 15” MacBookPro. These things take me about 4 hours to do if you were interested. And that’s not counting the web wizardry that Kilwag does in order to get it up on the site. By the way, you might not have notice, but if you click on the images now you will see bigger versions. Of course, I’m constrained by what the seller puts on eBay. If they only put a small image on there, that’s the biggest I can show.

60s/70s.

First up, how about this superb complete? It’s a Sims Dave Andrecht in excellent condition. The graphics are in pristine condition, protected by the rails, and the trucks and wheels are pretty good too. I’m not sure what make those trucks are actually. They are not Trackers, and the hangers don’t look like Indys. The wheels look like some kind of Powell double conical, but I could be wrong there too. Whatever they are, the whole thing is rad. How rad? $2,524. Now that’s rad.

And speaking of Sims, here’s a Brad Bowman from a little later. Minty fresh, like a Mentos but better. The big dollars are coming out for the Sims love fest!! $2,025.

Now this. . . . Fuck, I don’t even know where to start. In the 70s you had fiberglass decks with all kinds of crazy shit printed on them. Normally it was clich?d Californian stuff like dudes surfing, sunsets, palm trees. Touristy stuff like that. Sometimes you’d get a logo or something. But NEVER have I seen one with an actor on it. Until now that is. May I introduce you to original American badass himself, Charles Bronson. Why Mr. Bronson saw fit to allow his image to be printed on a skateboard is a mystery. But an even bigger mystery is why the company that produced this thought that what the pre-pubescent 70s skater really wanted printed on his new skateboard was a picture of a middle-aged, round faced vigilante. Whatever the reason though, thank god they did, because this is classic. Just classic. $199.

After that, this seems like a huge anticlimax, but it’s actually pretty rad. It’s a 1979 Santa Cruz Duane Peters, complete with Trackers and Blackhart wheels. I think they’re blackharts? I’ve got to start keeping better notes on these completes damnit. You used to be able to add notes in a Comments field in the Get Info box, but with 10.4. Apple changed that to Spotlight comments, and they seem to disappear. I hate Spotlight, but that’s a comment for another article. Suffice it to say; this complete is pretty damned nice. AOS has it listed as the very first Duane Peters deck. $643.

I was talking about this deck last month, and how much it bores me. It’s a Kryptonics team deck from 1978. Some kind of composite material (used in skis or something) was used, and it may have been the first skateboard that used this technology, which explains the continued interest with collectors I guess. This is an excellent example, clean as they come. The complete looks like it was never even skated on. $1,600.

And here is another mint one, this time deck only. Can you believe $2,700??? Come on somebody clue me in. Why are these things going for so much cash? What is it I don’t get? And why would this one be worth $1000 more than the complete above it? Did they use gold for the middle ply?

This seems to be the month for completes. Well, here’s another, and it’s well skated but totally classic. It’s the G&S Doug “Pineapple” Saladino from 1978, along with Trackers (and well ground copers to boot), and Yo-yos, if the sticker is to be believed. I love the lapper and huge pink tailblock too. This one is rare apparently because the large G&S logo that should be on the bottom has been swapped with the small top G&S logo, and it has a small upside down pineapple logo on there too. Actually, there’s a lightening of the wood where a different sticker was at one time. Is the whole thing fake? Who knows. It still looks good though. Like a vintage 70s pig should look. $259.

Ooooh. Stroker trucks. What the Indy crew was working on before they came up with the Indy design. Rare as hell. $465.

Ahh yes. Rounded wheels. Popular for a time in the 70s. These are the infamous G&S Rollerballs. They were designed for coping, being a complete sphere they would roll right over it and not hang-up, but they had no traction thanks to the miniscule riding surface. They would also wear down really fast. A full mint set is a rarity indeed. $202.

And speaking of wheels, here’s a set of green Kryptonics. These aren’t the original Star Tracs, but are the 2nd version of the wheel. The originals had the lettering raised, and here it’s recessed. Still they are almost 30 years old and looking as fresh as when they came off the line. $427.

Shit, I really need my notes here, but of course I don’t have them. This is a Duke Kahanamoku complete from the 60s. The Duke was the person that introduced Hawaiian surfing to the world in the 1920s and 30s. I guess they took his name and slapped it on some sidewalk surfboards in the 60s. It’s not a cheap looking complete though, having 2 types of hardwood in the deck, and with clay wheels as well. Talk about a historical relic. $540.

80s

This is a Zorlac Abrook mini model. It was their first model for Zorlac. For those that don’t know, the Abrooks, Mark and Barry, were England’s equivalents of the Godoys. Brothers who skated, and who were well known for their hardcore style and attitude. They were made for Zorlac, and probably sold a ton of Zorlac decks in England for them. More Zorlac Abrooks later. $217.

Here we have a Powell-Peralta Ray Barbee in a nice red wood stain. It’s his second model, known as the fire hydrant. Sweet looking board, with the double-drilled nose. $286.

I wasn’t going to feature any Cabs, Hawks or McGills, but I have 1 of each, but they are not the usual suspects. This is the Cab “dragon and bats”, and is in a smoking hot pink paint. Totally 80s. This graphic is much nicer in person than in a picture. $384.

The Zorlac Devilfish, 2nd edition. So called because it’s a fish shape (hammerhead really), and the original graphic was a big devilhead. That was considered too controversial however, so they went to this odd graphic instead. $273.

I love this graphic, but have never seen it in black before. It’s the Santa Cruz Eric Dressen “Celtic roses” You normally see it in a natural wood stain, and was reissued in a purple paint. The graphic is very intricate, beautiful basically. In natural it normally goes in the $300 range, but the black really added to the value: $736. There are some hardcore Dressen collectors out there.

What we have here is another Santa Cruz Duane Peters, this time from the early 80s. It’s kind of plain, kind of ugly. But you don’t see it very often at all, and that makes it rare and valuable, right? $420.

Eddie Elguera. A living legend if ever there was one. My favorite part of Who Cares is the footage of Eddie ripping it up in the Gold Cup series. His style and tricks are remarkable. He skated for Variflex at that time, but joined up with H-Street in the late 80s and they released 4 or 5 decks for him. This graphic isn’t great, but hey, it’s Eddie Elguera. $223.

Now this is classic mid 80s. A Zorlac John Gibson with tailbone, rails, nose bone, Bird III lapper (it’s built in with the riser pad to prevent snapping), and pink gullwings. A Craig Johnson sticker, Jeff Kendall sticker, and Zorlac shrunken skull round it out in style. Awesome and heavier than a ton of bricks. $355.

The Jeff Grosso “hanging tongue” from 1989. Nice green wood stain, and apparently it’s still in shrink, but the shrink looks suspect to me. It’s all bunched up at one side, suggesting it’s been rewrapped at some point for some reason. My favorite is when somebody misspells it as “shrinkraped”. $415.

This deck just goes up every month. It’s the Santa Cruz Jeff Grosso “toybox”. The problem is, I’m getting bored as hell with it, so I probably won’t feature it anymore. $1,124.

There were plenty of Hawks to feature this month, but I’m not going to show any more chicken skulls. This one I always liked though, and it’s still reasonably unusual. It’s the Hawk birdclaw, with the forest background. Striking in the black dip. It’s in great shape and very impressive. $541.

It’s funny, Black Label just reissued this graphic, but that did nothing to hurt the price of the original. An H-Street Matt Hensley, autographed twice, once in 93 and once in 96. Nice touch. Hensley’s are always very popular, so it was no surprise to see it go for $660.

In the words of Randy “Macho Man” Savage, oooooooooh yeaaaahhhhhhhh! A minty fresh Alva Hosoi from 1983. You just never see these, especially in this condition. The biggest problem with it is the seller put a teeny picture in there, so I’m sorry if the picture is blurry. Seriously though, this is a mega rare deck, being Hosoi’s first. $1,908.

Update: OK, what the fuck was I talking about? That obviously wasn’t Christian’s first pro graphic. His first was the rising sun on Sims, which they later changed to the Kamikaze model after he left for Alva. His first graphic for Alva appeared to be the fireball on a pig shape which is featued in an ad in the November 83 Thrasher. It also features a broken Sims rising sun if you look really carefully. The graphic I feature in this baywatch doesn’t make an appearance until March 1984, and it is on a fish shape. So it is technically Christian’s 3rd graphic. My apologies.

 

Didn’t we see this one last month or the month before? It’s a Sims Lester Kasai “splat” from 1983. Front and rear wheel wells, great condition. Nice deck. It would look good on my wall. But not for $500.

Santa Cruz Jeff Kendalls have been shooting up in price recently: it doesn’t seem to matter if they are early or late models, all are expensive. This “atom man” is from 1989, and despite its recent reissue still fetched $419. Not bad at all.

Now this is something. It’s the RARE first version of the Lance Mountain “future primitive” graphic. We all know the more famous later version with the running caveman figure etc, but this early model featured a skater doing a layback air. Seriously, you never see this. A truly excellent collector’s deck, even though it’s in used condition. $1,030.

Here we have a signed H-Street Tony Magnusson from 1989/1990. Nice condition. $455.

A Dogtown Micke Alba “temple” model from 1988. Malba, even though less well known than his older brother, still has his fans, and his decks have become very collectible. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a Dogtown either. $517.

Just like the Hawk above, I’m featuring just one Powell McGill this month, and it’s one you might not have seen before. It’s the 1989/1990 “aquarium” model. For a long time you could get this at all of the online stores that still had old school, stuff. It was about $80 and obviously not popular. How times have changed. This one fetched $500, and they only seem to be going up. The colors do pop off the natural wood stain though.

Grrrrrr. A Zorlac Metallica deck. These are very popular with Zorlac collectors and Metallica fans. Also with Pushead fans. So if you want one, prepare to go big. $438.

The Natas “Crazy cat” from SMA. The black/purple fade is a really nice touch, and adds to the value of this pretty common deck. $280 and rising.

And here’s a classic SMA Natas featuring graphics by Bulldog. One of his most popular with collectors. $437 will get you a used one.

And now we have the rarest of the late Natas decks. The 101 Natas “satan” model. I’m not going into all of the history and rumors about this deck: if you want the full story read Disposable. Personally I think it’s totally, 100% retarded, but some can’t get enough of it. To the tune of $4,000. Yowza.

And this one is just fucking awesome. The Sims Screamer from 1983. It was featured prominently in Sims ads in Thrasher, circa 1983/1984, and led to a line in the classic McWilson song “Rippee’s Monk-Off”. Seriously, I love this deck. It only came in the one color way I think. $330.

This one really surprises me. Shut was a local company out of New York who put out a line of decks in the late 80s, all with great shapes and great graphics. Of course Shut later became Zoo York, and made a billion dollars, but this is one of their first. $457?? Wow.

I don’t think I’ve ever featured this deck before. It’s a H-Street John Sonner from 1989. All H-Streets are fondly remembered, so they all go pretty big. Even for a skater with a short pro career like John Sonner. $475.

Ahhh matey!!! Here be the Sims Kevin Staab pirate model! As reissued a few years back by Punk Rock Skateboards (whatever happened to them???). Mint and cheesy as hell. So how much booty, how many doubloons would it take to win this auction? Try $399.

And to round out this section we have one of the earliest Zorlac production decks. Talk about a pig!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shorter nose on any skateboard. And it has routed out finger grabs, just like a late 70s Sims. An awesome piece of history. $450.

90s-today

The 90s section this month features a lot of later model Zorlac decks, all from the same seller. In the late 80s Zorlac was sold to a company out of San Diego who continued the Zorlac name from there. To me it was never the same: Zorlac was and always will be a Texas company. But some of the graphics and decks they put out were still first rate, and are becoming very hot with collectors. Here we have another Abrook brothers deck. It’s a mini, featuring a flower and butterfly scribed by Pushead. $281.

And here’s another Abrook/Pushead collaboration. This is the specter model from 1991. Note the very different shape from the butterfly model. This one’s a keeper in this color way. $325.

And here’s another Zorlac. The Aaron Deeter “teeth” model. As the elevator operator says, “going up!” $271.

And this. Well this is something. The Gibson “cow skull” was probably Zorlac’s most famous graphic. When Gibson left Zorlac for Alva in 1986, it looked like it was all over, and he issued cow skull decks for Alva for years. But after leaving Alva in the early 90s, he rejoined the new Zorlac and they re-released his most famous graphic on a more modern shape. It is most excellent, and pretty damned rare. $255 is a bargain in my opinion.

Here’s a World Industries Randy Colvin from 1992. I don’t know the story behind the graphics, but there must obviously be one. The graphics are by Mark McKee. This gets my WTF moment of the month, because I can’t understand why this deck would fetch $1,226. A little help here please?

Not much in the way of graphics here. In the early 90s Santa Cruz released a series of slick bottom boards all with the same bottom graphic, the only difference being the top graphic and the pros signature. This one is the Tom Knox. $355? Wow.

Liberty was a company owned by Mike Smith, the inventor of the Smith grind. He issued decks for himself, but also for one other pro, Todd Congelliere. This is the “icee bear” model from 1991. $280.

Yet another H-Street. This must be a record for this column! This is the Ron Allen from 1991. I like the blue to green to natural wood stain. Very nice, and very unusual. It was a special issue, and came in a multitude of unusual color ways like this. $338.

Oooh, a Vision deck! It’s the Vision Buck Smith “Working the Corner” deck from 1992. Have you ever seen another? I know I haven’t. Very nice. Graphics are similar to Powell’s at the time, which isn’t unusual as both former huge corporations were really struggling in the small company/street heavy landscape of the early 90s. $330.

Reissues

How about a set of all of the reissued Santa Cruz Roskopp graphics? Yup, all 6. It’s shame they didn’t release them in matching color ways: the set would have been that much more impressive. This way they look kind of a mess. The seller should also have put them in the correct order. But I’m just bitching because I don’t like them. Someone did. $612.

A Jason Jessee Neptune reissue. I sold mine in this exact same color way for $200. This one fetched $227, so I don’t feel too bad.

Weird/Stupid Stuff

Banners, if the graphic is right, can fetch major coin. Everybody remembers the Jim Phillip’s “Screaming hand” logo he did for Santa Cruz, so it’s not surprising to see this banner go for $330.

What is the matter with the Gonz fans out there? $297 for a crappy 6-inch figure? It looks like a saltshaker you might find at a church picnic for troubled youth. Just silly.

Now I love the old school 70s company jerseys that sponsored ams and pros would wear. They gave teams a really unified and professional look. Teams today could learn a thing or too from how teams were run in the 70s. These days they often look like a bunch of ghetto knob ends or white trash simpletons, pulling off all kinds of immature crap. Act like professionals damnit!!! $202.

And this. This is just awesome. A 1970s era lunchbox. Complete with a pro wearing a jersey like the above in the background, and a Peralta/Adams clone carving in the foreground. Sweeeeeet!! $32? How did I miss bidding on this??

Remember the later model Airwalks? When they were super large, super loud and had tons of bits and bobs on them? Fahrenheit 720s or 540s I think they were called. Tony Hawk used to wear them in a lot of the later Powell videos. Well, who would have thought that they would have been worth money in years to come? $305 actually. They look uncomfortable and stiff as hell, but who knows. I guess Payless bought out the Airwalk and Vision Street Wear names, so look for reissues of these and other classic styles at your local Payless.

And finally this month, we have this hunk of shit. Both the band and the deck. If you can’t read the fake Asian script, it says Linkin Park. Yes, you too can have a limited edition, crappy Linkin Park popsicle if you are prepared to pay, wait for it, $364. Holy shit. That is simply awful.

Seeya next month. .

-Neil