Let me start off by thanking all those who sent in links to auctions that finished in August. Like I said last month, I missed 2 weeks of auctions because I was out of the country, and consequently I didn’t have very many decks to highlight. Well you all came though and sent in tons of links, so thanks for that. Thanks to you, this month features about the same amount of decks as usual! And to think, I was looking forward to doing a shorter one this month! Now, unfortunately I lost all of the links to the featured auctions this month. I normally keep the auction link in the Spotlight Comments field of the file, but I ran some maintenance utilities on my MacBook Pro a few days ago, and it appears to have cleaned out all of the metadata in the files. So I have no original auction info to check back on for things like trucks and wheels on completes etc. If some details seem scarce this month, that’s why.
This month’s BayWatch is brought to you by the new Teenage Bottlerocket album, “They Came from the Shadows”. Actually, it’s pretty apt really, because the first song on the album is “Skate or Die”, a classic TB blast of Ramones rock which name checks JFA, Rodney Mullen and the Bones Brigade. The whole album is a blast from start to finish, funny in parts and teenage-dumb in others, and covers all of the regular TB themes: girl problems, crappy dead end jobs and sci-fi. Look, if you like music that will bring a smile to your face while you tap your feet and bob your head, then this is for you. And if you’re a miserable goth who loves The Cure, then maybe this is for you too, because you need to smile too, damnit!
60s, 70s, early 80s.
First up this month is this Dogtown Bob Biniak “Rocket” complete from 1978. The graphic is in pretty good condition, and the deck appears to have the sweet yellow fade around the outside. It is complete with ACS Trucks and unknown, huge and wide wheels. It sure is a solid complete, all era correct. $404.
And then we have another complete. This is a Kryptonics team deck complete with Indys and red Kryptonics wheels. The deck has foam and fiberglass construction, and these kind of experimental materials in late 70s/early 80s decks always push the price up. The thing is in very good condition: the trucks and wheels look untouched really, and although it’s kinda bland in my eyes, somebody probably thinks that they scored big time. $536.
Here’s a Sims Bert LaMar “new wave” from 1981. The thing is a monster, and let’s face it, the graphic is hideous, but it’s in keeping with the rest of the graphics pit out by Sims in 81. There was an Andrecht that had a similar, awful design, along with a couple of team decks. It reminds me of an album you would see in the bargain bin of the local record store back then. You know, all bright colors and futuristic lettering, and a bunch of guys trying to look threatening while holding keyboards. This deck is NOS I guess, but it didn’t help that much. $299 seems about right.
And from a similar time period is this G&S Micke Alba complete from 1981. G&S, like Sims were obviously struggling for graphics ideas, because this deck is just like a Doug Saladino that they issued. It’s a very similar horizontal stripy graphic with the pro’s name next to the company logo. It’s all very generic and surfboard graphic looking. Then they allowed the in-house artists to start coming up with designs and things improved massively. This complete has obviously seen a lot of wear, but it’s still a good representation of a pretty rare board. $209.
From 1978 we have this Dogtown Jim Muir “dragon” complete. Although the tailskid shows some wear, the rest of the deck is in great condition; the graphic is untouched! No it’s not mint, but remove the tailskid and back DTS sticker, and you have a very, very nice early complete. The artwork is by Wes Humpston of course. $500.
Now here’s one you don’t see on eBay every month. It’s a Sims Lonnie Toft “Outrageous 8 Wheeler” complete. Actually, it might not be a straight Sims, I’m thinking it is actually put out by somebody else, but it is certainly based on the Sims 8-wheeler. It is signed by Lonnie Toft, and has 4 Trackers and 8 Sims wheels. It sure is an interesting piece of history, but I can’t imagine throwing one of these around the skate park. There must be a market for 8 wheelers, because it sold for $1075, and imagine how much this thing cost to ship!
Sometimes I like to feature small brands from other countries, like the Surfa Sam skateboards from Australia. Well, from a similar time period, but from England, comes this “Kroydon Thunder Bolt”. I really know nothing else about it, other than it has clay wheels, is in very good condition, and that it sold for $175. I did a Google search, but all I could find was a golf club called the Kroydon Thunderbolt. Now that’s a shame.
Mid 1980s
OK, so here’s one I’ve featured once before, but not for a while. It’s a Vision “Batman” deck, released to cash in on the Batman craze that followed the release of the 1989 Batman movie. It’s a pretty decent full bleed graphic, and if you’re a fan of Batman I could see that it would be a must-have. There was also a matching Joker deck. $310.
Here’s a G&S Neil Blender “scorpion” deck from 1989. It’s mint, and like most Blender decks, it’s an interesting and unusual graphic. Funnily enough, it’s one of the few Blenders where he didn’t do then artwork himself. The art is by Eric Gordon, who I assume is the son of Larry Gordon, the G of G&S. $262.
And here’s another G&S Neil Blender, but this time it’s the “Picasso” model from 1987. It’s a shame that the photo isn’t better, because it’s tough to tell if the deck is really yellowed and dirty, or whether it’s just been taken under fluorescent light in the kitchen. It appears to be a white dip with green and blue graphic. I’ve always loved this graphic, and this mint model went for $317.
The Santa Cruz Bod Boyle “Stained Glass’ from 1989 isn’t a rare deck by any means, and at least 2 go off every month. However most appear to be the red stain or the natural, and you seldom see this deep blue. The stained glass graphic looks far better on this dark colored deck, and this is one of the nicest I’ve ever seen. The pinks and greens are really stunning here. $291.
I’ve been making a serious attempt not to feature the more obvious collector decks recently, did you all notice? But I really liked the colorway on this Santa Cruz Corey O’Brien “reaper”, so here it is. It’s a green stain that really allows the details and colors of the main graphic to pop. This is a really handsome deck, and like the Bod above, is one of the best colorways I’ve seen. Others must agree because it went for $800.
The fade Alvas of the mid 80s are classic decks. Oftentimes the graphics themselves aren’t that great, but often aren’t even the main focus: the fade or speckle colorway becomes just as big a deal as the graphic itself, transforming a very average deck into something special. Such is the case with this Chris Cook “Jester” from 1987. Let’s face it, who the hell knows what is going on with that graphic? It’s colorful I guess, but that isn’t what makes this deck a head-turner: it’s the sweet black to red fade around the edge. Imagine this on a plain natural deck. That’s a $100 deck tops. But add the sweet fade? It sold for $296, so you do the math.
SO a couple of really nice Bill Danforth decks went off in August. First up is this 1985 Madrid Danforth “Misfits” model. It’s mint, and in a rich purple stain, which makes a nice change from the black and red dip that you normally see this deck in. It’s signed by Bill, which might actually hurt the value. That’s a really nice looking deck. It sold for $329.
And this might be the highest priced Danforth I’ve ever seen. It’s the Alva Danforth “Circle of Skulls” model from 1987. It’s definitely NOS, and the natural wood stain is the perfect background for the very 80s neon pinks and greens. It’s a great example of this iconic deck, and sold for $720.
Here’s a Vision Gator “swirl 2” from 1988. This is the mini model, and I feature it for the colorway and the shape. The mini model had a very different shape from its big bother. That was a smooth tapered shape, where this one has side cuts and money bumps. The blue to green to yellow fade is a nice touch too. Vision let it all hang out with the colorways on this model, and it’s fun to see all of the variations. $400.
Here’s the Santa Cruz Jeff Grosso “Heaven and Hell” model from 1990. It was his last model on Santa Cruz, and has been blowing up over the last couple of years. I’ve never liked the graphic: there’s too much going on, and probably too many inside jokes in there, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming one of the higher priced Grosso’s out there. This mint purple stain sold for $1,250.
So here’s an H-Street Matt Hensley “Pole Spin” from 1989. Is it Hensley’s most famous graphic? Maybe, probably tied with the “Ray of Light” deck from 91. This one is a complete, but doesn’t look like it really saw any action. The deck has no obvious blemishes, and even the tailbone looks clean. It looks like you could rip off the trucks, tail and rails and you’d have basically a NOS Hensley here for a very reasonable price: $300.
And talking of H-Street, here’s the Magnusson Ron Allen “No Comply” from 1989. Shortly after this deck was released Magnusson renamed the company H-Street, so this exact same graphic was issued under 2 different company names. This one has been set up at point, but much like the deck above, has no obvious signs of wear apart form the lighter colors where the risers were. It went for $335.
Here we have a crazy-ass Vision Hippie Stick from 1985 in a truly far-out colorway. The black, white, orange and green colors really work well on this deck, giving it a very mid 60s psychedelic feel, which I guess is the point. The owner tried to match the color of the copers and rails to the deck, which is a nice touch. The trucks and wheels look like junkers, but overall this complete is a very nice package. $149.
OK, so in 1984 Vision released a series of 3 team decks that all had different animal skins as their graphic. There was the zebra skin, reptile skin, and the most popular of them all was this one, the leopard skin. What seems passé now was totally rad and unusual at the time because the graphic was full bleed, not just between the trucks. This one is mint and a very nice looking specimen. The leopard skin around the natural wheel wells is a nice touch. $265.
This is the Schmitt Stix John Lucero X1 model from 1985. I thought this board was super rad at the time, but looking back now, it looks like a cheesy Nash graphic or something. The trucks look generic to me and the wheels look like Powell cubics. I do like that the owner matched the wheels to the rails, that’s a nice touch. And of course nothing completes an 80s setup like a “No Bozos” sticker. Shoot, I have one of those attached to an old VHS skate compilation somewhere. It’s totally pointless but totally 1980s. The deck actually is in very nice condition, and the colorway is pretty striking. It went for $275.
So here’s a G&S Sean Miller “Muscle Head” from 1990. Sean was a later period G&S vert pro from Pennsylvania. I guess he joined the coast guard after he stopped skating professionally, and he unfortunately died in a car crash sometime in the mid 90s. Getting information on the lesser known pros can be super tough, but oftentimes their stories are far more interesting than the stories of those who went onto superstardom, because normally all they ever did was skate in CA from an early age. $180.
Hmm. The last time I featured a Steve Olson Skates deck I guess I said that the graphic was looked like it had been mailed in: no effort at all went into it. I guess Steve saw that and got all pissed off. Well prepare to get pissed off again, because here’s another SOS deck, and once again the graphic looks like it was thrown together in about 5 minutes before it was screened. I guess they were listening to the first Surf Punks album, because the graphic looks very similar to their logo. It’s from 1985, before he got a model on Skull. It sold for $305.
Here we have a well-used Santa Cruz Rick Demontrond “Spidey” deck from 1987. As you can see, the important parts of the graphic are all there, and despite the fact that you can’t see the tail or the nose, it had a lot of bidders. It’s complete with Indys with the classic black copers that are well ground down. I guess he the owner skated vert, because I used to put big holes in mine from skating curbs after only a couple of sessions. It sold for $255. What do you think of the angle of the photo? It’s very interesting, and it sure lets you appreciate the graphic, but not being able to really see what you are buying would bother me.
Well, I guess it’s true to say that this deck is blowing up in a major way. It’s the SMA Jim Thiebaud “Joker” deck from 1989, and is the original, which they later had to change because of pressure from the Batman folks. The villain looks too much like the Joker I guess. This is a superb specimen: it’s mint and the blue/green dip is very rare. I’ve never seen one of these break a thousand before, but this one sold for $1,251. Five years ago this was a $400 deck.
And here’s another deck that used to almost be a joke, but now has blown up majorly. It’s the Santa Cruz Mitsugu Toyoda “Cat Mouth” featuring the Japanese mouse skating the tongue of the cat that’s trying to eat him. It’s a nice graphic idea I guess, but is done in a very juvenile, Rob Roskopp kind of way. Every old school shop used to have these in stock, but slowly they dried up, and now this mint in shrink version just went for $660. Yes, that’s dollars, not yen.
Here’s a very clean Powell Peralta “Rat Bones” complete from 1985. It clearly didn’t see the streets too often because it is VERY clean. The white Trackers look like the day they were made, and the wheels just have a coating of road dust. The deck itself is pristine, and is striking in red dip with the white and black ratbones. A classic complete at a very reasonable price: $637.
Here’s a Skull Skates Ken McGuire “Xerox Face” from 1988. The picture actually doesn’t do the shape justice at all. It’s super curvy, going from fat to skinny, fat over the hips, and getting skinny again at the tail. It’s very unusual. It’s got the totally 80s colorway of neon green and hot pink. This deck hardly ever comes up at auction, and prices are all over the place. In 2005 one went for $84, while in 2007 one went for $500. This one went for $198. I wonder if the folks at Skull bought it, because they were after one supposedly.
OK, you want insane? Well, much like the Toyoda above, every online old school shop had a ton of these Powell Peralta team “Bug 2” decks left over from the 80s. Some still do. There are so many around that they are often used as a makeweight in a trade if you’re short like $50 or something. Hell, I even had one for about a month. This is a fairly common colorway for it. It’s not the worst deck ever, merely pointless. Now if they’d done a series of different bugs, that would have been something, but on it’s own, this is a common, unattractive board. So imagine my surprise when this went for $300. That must be an anomaly, right? I mean if you look around you can still find them online for less than a hundred.
90’s-present day
The 90’s were totally ridiculous weren’t they? Just check out the size of the “wheels” on this World Industries Kareem Campbell “White Devil” complete from 1993. You really have to look twice, because at first glance it appears that there are no wheels on there! They really are no more than bearing covers. Look how much the axles stick out from inside the wheels! Crazy. The graphics features the classic 1950s looking Bob Dobbs, complete with pipe and horns, in hell. It’s obvious and cheesy, but then again, so was everything WI did. It went for $449.
This is a Blind Jason Lee “Grinch” from 1990. In the graphic the Grinch appears to be going to roast Cindy Lou Who and another unfortunate resident of Who Ville on a spit. Actually I can’t blame the Grinch because those Whos always bugged the hell out of me. Go on, burn them up brother! The deck is rare rare rare, and went for a large $2,500. The artist is Andy Jenkins.
If it’s a graphic of dogs, then it has to be Rodney Mullen, right? Right! Tony Hawk owns the bird graphic franchise, and I guess that Mullen owns the dog one. This is the World Industries Mullen “sureshot” deck from 1991. It features the classic “dogs playing pool” theme, and I’m sure that the dogs are all supposed to represent figures in the skate industry, but I’m not in the know enough to figure out who is who or why. Maybe you can tell me? Is the chief bulldog supposed to be Rocco? He is featured in the top graphic wearing a nazi uniform giving a sieg heil salute, so there must be some story there! It went for $700.
Here’s a Blind Jordan Richter “Safety First” from 1991. The graphic features detailed instructions on how to put on a condom and practice safe sex. Am I missing something here? Is this funny? Maybe to a 12 year old who’s never done it before I guess. So we went from the classic Wes Humpston, VCJ and Jim Phillips graphics to this? Good god. It went for $457. I guess one of these sold in 2008 for over $2,600, at least according to AOS it did. Maybe it was made of solid gold.
Here’s one I’ve never seen before, and probably neither have you. It’s a New School Kelly Bird “Fat Albert” model from 1992. By 1991 all of the major 80s companies were in trouble. The new street skating generation turned on them and went with the new companies almost exclusively. Some companies stayed the course and weathered the period, some went under, but some changed their name and graphic identity in an attempt to stay relevant. So it was with Alva, which faced with plummeting sales and the reputation as a hardcore 80s punk rock brand, reinvented itself as New School. They ditched most of their old pros and brought a whole new slew of riders on board. Was it exploitation or was it good business? You make the call. The brand was dead by about 1995. This reminder of those changing times went for $159.
So, not many pro skaters survived those trying times, but one who did was Steve Caballero. He learned the new street tricks and incorporated them into his huge repertoire. He truly is a legend and is deserving of the utmost respect. Here he auctioned off one of his personal riders, his Powell Peralta stencil propeller head deck from this year. It comes complete with Indys and Autobahn wheels, along with PP skinny ribs and Bones Swiss Bearings. It’s a really nice piece for the ultimate Cab collector, and it sold for $610.
Assorted Crap
SO, Powell Peralta had The Bones Brigade, so I guess Vision had to come up with a similar military sounding name for its team of pros. I guess it came up with the name “Special Forces”, which is as underwhelming as this tour shirt from 1987. Mint Bones Brigade shirts from the same time period fetch hundreds of dollars. This went for $28, which tells you all you need to know I guess.
OK, so we had baseball caps in the 80s, but a favorite of the white trash/burnout brigade was the painters cap. Remember those? The brim would always be turned up? You’d see them in the crowd wherever you went on the heads of rat-tailed Tony Hawk clones in oversized Airwalk hi-tops? Well here’s a classic painters cap from 1985, featuring the classic Brand X skull and crossbones logo. These must have been so cheap for the companies to put out because the fabric was so thin it was almost not even there, and the bill was plastic. I remember stealing one from a Wendy’s that we stopped at in southern Illinois, on the way back from the famous July 4th 1986 Island WaterSports ramp jam in St Louis. I wore that stupid painters cap for years, and had it signed by Lance Mountain, Jesse Martinez and Adrian Demain. Aah, memories.
Bargains!
There was a time when this Alva “Santa Monica Cross” pig from 1983 was highly sought after. Either those days are long gone, or Alva collectors were asleep at the wheel on this one, because it sold for a paltry $93. Yes it’s used and has been drilled for rails etc, but the graphic is completely all there, and it is a very early 1980s Alva. It should have gone for far more.
Aah, yes, the classic/crappy Bad Boy Club logo. Shown here on a mint team deck from 1987. Note the classic 80s money bump around the back trucks, giving it added strength for those launch ramp jams that would snap many a deck right at the back trucks. AOS has this listed as the very first BBC deck, and if true, then this deck was the first of many dodgy graphics to come. Seriously, I can’t think of a BBC graphic that was any good. $90.
Here’s a Blockhead Street Standard team deck from 1989. It has a lot of surface storage scratches, but the graphic is still all there, and the colorway on this one is very nice. IMHO it’s a very underrated deck. The artwork is by Andy Jenkins and I like it a lot. Damnit, I used to own this deck in blue, but for some reason I sold it a couple of years ago. What was I thinking? Anyway, I could have had this one as a replacement for $32.
Yes, this Powell Peralta “dragon and bats” is a very common deck, and about 5 go off every month. However, this silver and red model is in good condition and who could haggle over this price? $28? Are you kidding me? See, you an build a decent collection without laying out too much cash if you look hard enough, so stop dropping $75 on those shite reissues, and do some digging!
And here’s another way to start a collection of originals from the 80s Focus on the lesser known pros. This is a Tracker Adrian Demain “Face 1” from 1988 complete with G&S trucks and SC Bullet wheels. Yes it’s used, but the graphic has held up very well with no major flaws, and for $90 you really can’t go wrong.
Seriously now, if you just do some digging you can still find some great bargains on eBay. An original Sana Cruz Jason Jessee “Racing Flames V8” model can go for over a thousand dollars in mint condition. But this decent looking used model in red stain, complete with blue Gullwings and tiny 90s era wheels could have been yours for $77. The graphic is all there, and the wear around the sides doesn’t really bother me too much, how about you? Stripped of its trucks and Vans sticker, this could easily be the centerpiece of somebody’s collection.
So you’re sick of seeing bargains that are used and you want mint? Well feast your eyes on this Wiggley Designs “Honeycomb” from 1986. It’s made with the traditional Uncle Wiggley combination of epoxy and fiberglass, and features the 2 rivets in the nose to keep the nose together following a nose bonk. I guess Wiggley Designs was a spinoff from Uncle Wiggley, but the 2 companies did run concurrently, and this looks like the generic team version of the UWS Tony Magnusson “DNA Chain” deck. The shape is identical and the graphic is very close. I love the shape of this deck, and I loved it so much that I won the auction for the princely sum of $72. The colors are far more vibrant in person btw.
See ya next month.
-Neil
