eBay Watch: August 2012

So welcome to the August 2012 edition of eBayWatch. It was an exceptional month not just for prices, but also because some truly amazing decks went off. I don’t think that I can ever remember a month like this one! So sit down and strap in because I think you’re going to enjoy the ride!

My music selections this month are all from different rockabilly/psychobilly bands, and all bands that were new to me. I was listening to Mad Sin and I looked on iTunes to see what other fans were listening to. I got a link to The Arkhams, and from there to Kitty in a Casket, and from there to Rezurex. So I bought albums from all three, and I love them all! Let’s start with The Arkhams. The album “The Road to Arkham” by The Arkhams is maybe the most well-rounded, having a touch of surf, a touch of 50s and some psychobilly. It’s a really good album, and a very light hearted one too. It’s their first album, and I’m late to the party because it’s from 2007. Great stuff.

Kitty in a Casket is very much in the vein of The Creepshow: a female fronted psycho/horror band. And a very attractive female may I say! However, there is no organ in Kitty in a Casket: they are a more traditional rockabilly band. Their 2009 album “Horror Express” is their first album. Their songs are all traditional psycho fare, but they have some really nice guitar licks, and they don’t take themselves too seriously. They are from Austria, so that may be why the band name isn’t that great…

And finally we have Rezurex and their third album “Dance of the Dead” from 2011. They could be considered a psychobilly supergroup, having members of Nekromantix, Tiger Army and Calavera. The singer Daniel deLeon is also part of 45Grave and has been in numerous horror b-movies. So you can imagine already what they sing about! Yes, all manner of zombies and demons etc. But the musicianship is REALLY good and the band is red-hot. It’s a much denser sound than Kitty in a Coffin say, and the songs are more textured and not so obvious. But the album is really, really good. And I just saw them and they put on a great show. I’ll put some links to YouTube for the 3 bands at the end of the post.

First up this month is this red Z-Flex Jay Adams fiberglass complete from 1977. It is an original orange ultralite model and is in exceptional, lightly skated condition. It has just a little tail wear and nothing else. The ultralite models were almost half the weight of the earlier z-flex decks and are highly desirable. It comes complete with original Tracker Midtracks and blue Tunnel Rocks. It’s a truly iconic board in great condition, and it sold for $2,058 on 13 bids.

And here we have a Sims Brad Bowman “Superman” from 1979. This one comes complete with Independent stage II trucks and Variflex wheels. It’s in decent used condition, but with some tender loving care this deck could be a real winner. The sticker gunk on the tail could easily be removed. Remove the tailbone and some of the faded stickers and this would totally rule. It sold for a very reasonable $855 on 17 bids.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Duane Peters “5-stripe” from 1980. Actually it’s very difficult to find any info at all on the early SC Duane boards. The similar one on AOS doesn’t have routes and this one does, which makes it an earlier version I would guess. Plus this one has the Duane lettering one both the red and black, not just on the red. It comes with Independent trucks and Blackhart wheels, which are rare enough in their own right! The deck is in average used condition, but for a board as rare and iconic as this does it really matter? It sold for $994 on 24 bids.

And here’s another classic old complete! It’s a Powell Peralta Jay Smith “Brite Lite” from 1980. This one comes complete with Trackers and unknown single conical wheels. It’s a rare enough board, but what I like the best is the wide-ass Party Animal sticker that runs the full width of the deck! I love stuff like this! Why on earth did the owner put that on there? If you are really are a Party Animal do you need to proclaim that to the world? And would you go out and buy a sticker that said that?! Anyway, the board is in very good used condition and it sold for $760.

Oh my god! Here we have a NOS Santa Cruz Steve Olson “Special Edition” from late 1981. It’s more often seen in the light blue to dark blue fade across the middle, but this one reigns supreme in its full on rainbow glory! Seriously, this thing is freaking awesome. White dip, bright rainbow colors, front and back wheelwells. What more could you want? It sold for $1,275 on 12 bids.

And just when you were done drooling over that one, we have this one! And even earlier Santa Cruz Steve Olson, and probably his most iconic graphic. It’s the “circle logo/checkerboard” from early 1981. And it’s in NOS condition. You truly NEVER see this deck in any condition, and for it to be almost mint like this is a fucking miracle! It came in either a white dip (as this one is) or a black dip. Both are amazing. It sold for $3,850 on 33 bids, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it go for twice that. So I guess it’s a bargain?

Now here’s something that’s very cool too, but it has the bad luck of following the Olson! It’s a G&S Stacy Peralta Warptail along with its original box! The deck is truly NOS, being found in an old skateshop. SO the thing is totally mint. And the box just adds to it. But all squished down like that the box looks much too big for the deck. It sold for $727.

And here we have a Kryptonics Steve Alba “K-Beam” complete from 1979. I’ve gone into the history of the K-Beam multiple times, so I’m not going to get into that again. This comes complete with Trackers and red Kryptonics. The whole complete is super clean, and I’m really digging that strange clear tail guard. The story on this one is funny. The seller was given the complete for helping a friend move. I’m guessing that the original owner would never have done that if he’d known that it would sell on eBay for $935 on 16 bids.

Here we have a very nice looking Santa Cruz “Logo” complete from 1977. It comes complete with Gullwing HPG IV trucks and red Kryptonics wheels! You seldom see Gullwings like this on an older setup, and especially not in this kind of condition. It sold for $293 on 19 bids, which seems cheap for a board of this vintage in this condition.

Here we have a couple of Dogtown Shogo Kubo “Airbeams” from 1979. The top one is the black model, and is in decent used condition. He has removed the clear griptape on top, and that is why the top graphic is so clean and shiny! The deck underneath is OK too, and has a couple of vintage Dogtown stickers. It sold for $1,025 on 11 bids. The bottom one is the white version and is in much cleaner condition. Again, the griptape has been removed, and it looks almost NOS. The graphic looks cleaner and more classic in this colorway, and it sold for $1,500.

Description 11

And finally from the 70s this month we have this Sims Lonnie Toft “Snubnose” from 1978. Not 1976 as the seller claims. It comes complete with Trackers and Sims Snake wheels. It is in very good used condition and looks almost NOS! It sold for $1,200 on a Buy It Now after only 3 hours.

Mid 1980s

So first up in the 80s section this month we have this Powell Peralta Steve Caballero “Dragons and Bats” from 1987. It’s mint in shrink and is the full sized model. It’s a highly desirable colorway: the bright green dip always makes a good impression and looks good in an auction! It sold for $780 on 22 bids.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Corey O’Brien “Reaper” from 1986. It comes complete with G&S Chromolly trucks and Powell G-Bones wheels. The deck is in very good used condition. There is virtually no wear at all to the graphic, and even the griptape is clean. It hasn’t been drilled for rails or a nosebone, so basically if you remove the trucks you have almost an NOS deck. The colorway is great too: the orange stain is really good here. It’s warm but not too hot. And actually, the bright blue trucks are a nice touch too. It sold for $660 on 21 bids.

Here we have a Vision Gator “Mini Ankh” from 1989. It is NOS, and is a deck that you don’t see very often. This one almost looks like a factory second, because the orange in the graphic was supposed to stop at the back truck, but it streaks down onto the tail on the left side. Mistake or not though, this deck is really striking. The orange, red and yellow looks great on the teal background. It’s a great looking deck and it sold for $1,075.

And here we have another odd Vision Gator, this one being the “Version 2 Shapes” model from 1988. This particular deck is a one-off prototype test pressing on that gator-skin background. It’s a real rarity and may not be seen again. It’s tough to value one-offs like this because they come up so seldom, but this one went for $2,000

And here we have a Zorlac John Gibson “Cow Skull” from 1985. The seller says that it’s NOS, and that might be the case, but from the pictures it’s tough to tell if the deck was ever gripped and the grip was removed, or if it’s never been gripped at all. At any rate, it’s probably as “close to NOS” as you’re ever going to get on a Zorlac Gibson! The colorway is typical early Zorlac: very minimalist, using a dip and 2 colors in the graphic. The deck sold for $1,025 on 14 bids.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Claus Grabke ‘Exploding Clocks” complete from 1987. It comes complete with Indys and OJIIs. It’s in good used condition: the matching yellow plastics have done their job well. Remove them and you have a very nice Grabke here. The colorway isn’t the best, the dark teal being a little overwhelming, but it’s not bad! It went for $493 on 30 bids.

Here we have a Vision John Grigley “Old Ghosts II” from 1987. It’s not NOS as it has been gripped and mounted, but it never appears to have been ridden, as the deck is in pristine condition. Now I’m not sure what the idea was behind the ridiculously out of place Speed Wheels sticker, but that obviously needs to go here. The trucks are not included by the way, so it’s deck only. The colorway is superb, and overall this is a really nice Grigley. It sold for $500 on a Buy It Now, and only lasted about 6 hours.

Here we have a Vision Tom Groholski “Jersey Devil” complete from 1985. It’s in good used condition, and comes complete with Trackers and Sims wheels. The white dip is bright, and really allows the primary colors in the main graphic to pop. Yes it’s an amateurish graphic, but that’s the way the Tom drew it up! It sold for $260 on 13 bids.

Here we have a Tracker GSD “Eyeball” from 1985. This one is from a super early run because it has rear wheelwells, something you hardly ever see. It was ridden once, so is basically in NOS condition. It’s a killer colorway too. This is a really nice deck, the first real street deck, and it sold for $300.

This is a Powell Peralta Tommy Guerrero “Flaming Dagger” from 1986. It’s lime green dip with purple dagger, a highly desirable colorway for this deck. It’s the pointy nose model, with no wheelwells. It’s in used but not abused condition, but it’s the awesome colorway that makes this deck so attractive. It sold for $560 on 5 bids.

And here’s another Powell Peralta Tommy Guerrero “Flaming Dagger”, this one being the earlier round nose model. Not too early though because there are no wheelwells. This one is mint in shrink, so hold onto your wallets! It’s in a desirable light blue dip, and while the color of the dagger is weak, this is still super collectible in this condition. Sure enough it sold for $2,000 on a Buy It Now after 90 minutes!

I don’t feature Powell Peralta Tony Hawk “screaming skulls” very often because they are so damned common and I don’t want to encourage the nonsense. But sometimes they need to be shown just as a value guide, see where things are going. Well, this lime green, mint full sized chicken skull went for $1,850. So yes, these are still ridiculously high. Obviously the colorway has something to do with it, lime green being one of the rarer dips, but still…

Here we have a Hosoi (Santa Cruz) Christian Hosoi “Hammerhead Collage” from 1988. It’s in NOS condition, never gripped or set up. The purple stain is lovely, and the level of detail in the graphic is ridiculous. It’s a beautiful looking deck with a lot of stuff going on in the graphic, but if you squint at it there is a larger picture that all of the little bits make up. It sold for $1,700.

Here we have a Titus Skates Hans Jacobsson “Chef” deck from 1989. Titus was a German company and Hans was a Swedish very skater, and this was his first pro model. This one is NOS, and although the colorway is blaaah, it is a rare deck. How rare? Well this European deck for a European skater went for $457.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Jeff Kendall “Pumpkin” from 1987. Jeff liked to have fun with his graphics, and much like he changed the background graffiti on his earlier “graffiti” deck, here they have put different colors in the last few letters of his name, spelling out ‘End All”. The deck has been used, but is in good condition overall. The colorway is apparently a neon pink dip, but I’m guessing that the photo flattens out the color substantially. Still, it’s a bright and vibrant colorway, and this deck looks great. It sold for $596 on 25 bids.

And here’s another Santa Cruz Jeff Kendall, this being the “Snake” model from 1989. It’s in NOS condition, never gripped or mounted, and it looks spectacular. The black stain and orange snake is a killer combination. It looks clean and classy and could easily be the centerpiece of any collection. It’s an awesome deck, and it sold for $690 on 14 bids.

And the hits just keep on coming! Here we have a Sims Lester Kasai “Splat” deck from 1983. It’s in NOS condition, which is highly rare, and the white dip with blue and green graphic is tough to find too. It has some storage scuffs etc., but that is to be expected for a deck that is 30 years old and has probably been moved numerous times! I would prefer the name be in a different color, but still. It sold for $809 on 11 bids.

Here’s a Powell Peralta Mike McGill “Skull” complete from 1984. This sis one of those rare completes that I would keep as a complete, stickers and all. It’s just a perfect slice of time really! It comes complete with Venture trucks and cross colored Sims wheels. Its in very clean used condition, and the teal dip is an excellent colorway for this deck. I see a Lance Mountain sticker, a couple of OJs stickers, Neil Blender, Schmitt Stix, Robb Roskopp, Thrasher and Sex Wax stickers. This one went for a surprisingly low $299. I think it’s killer.

And boy oh boy do we have something here! Here we have the extremely rare SMA Natas “Face” deck from 1986! It’s officially in NOS condition, never having been gripped or mounted, but it’s in pretty rough shape to really be considered NOS. It has a lot of scratches and paint rubs, with a lot of the paint on the edges missing completely. But this is such a rare deck in any condition, and to find one that was never mounted, well, that is insane. It sold for $1,776 on 27 bids.

And here we have a BBC Jeff Phillips “Skeleton steer” from 1989. This one has been gripped but never set up, so I’m classing it as NOS. It’s one of Phillips rarer decks, and being NOS only makes it better. The colorway is a little dull, but the graphic is still vibrant. It sold for $475 on 13 bids.

And staying with Jeff Phillips we have this Sims Jeff Phillips “Tie-Dye Demon” from 1987. It’s a mini in NOS condition. It’s a super bright colorway, not the best, but some probably love it. It’s a highly desirable deck and ending up selling for $765. You didn’t see it? That’s because it was purchased on a BIN within 2 minutes!

Now here we have a Schmitt Stix “Skull Saw” team deck from 1990. This looks like it was built yesterday, because the deck looks flawless! It follows on from the wildly successful “Rip Saw” series of team decks from a coupe of years earlier. This comes complete with Indys and what look like SC Bullet wheels, although I guess they could be Schmitt Stix wheels too. It sold for a $500.

And here we have a Sims Kamikaze team deck from 1984. Yes it’s the Sims Hosoi deck, made into a generic team deck after he left for Alva. This is a beauty: NOS and in a red dip instead of the more common white dip. I must say that I really dig the colorway on this one. It has some storage scuffs, yes, but it’s still a beauty. It sold for $400.

Here we have the big surprise and big-ticket item of the month! It’s an NOS Santa Cruz Rick Demontrond “Spidey” deck in a beautiful blue dip. Yes that’s right. NOS, Blue dip. It’s a great looking deck, but I have to say that even I was completely unprepared for this one. I expected 3 grand max, but this one passed $3000 with days to go! It finished at $5,550 on 41 bids. Now, I don’t know if it actually sold for that because I didn’t see the money change hands, but that’s what eBay said, so that’s what I’m reporting. Damn that is a lot.

So the next three decks are all different colorways of the same Powell Peralta deck. It’s the “Vato Rat” or “Ratbones” depending on who you speak to. The top one is in a silver dip with the excellent red and black colorway. It’s in good used condition, and the red rails and tail actually work well here. This one sold for $385 on 5 bids.

Then we have this red dip complete. It comes complete with Indys and 97a Ratbones wheels. The colorway is strong and the white plastics tie into the graphics really well, just like the deck above. It has the classic junior high school grom sticker by the rear wheelwells. “If you value your life as much as I value this skateboard, don’t mess with it!” Yeah, scaarrry. Anyway, it’s in very good used condition and this one sold for $571 on 15 bids.

And the final one is in an awesome baby blue dip. This one is NOS, never mounted or gripped. It does have a horribly out of place Powell dragon sticker on the tail which needs to be removed like yesterday. It also has some signatures on it: Kevin Harris, Tommy Guerrero, Andy Howell, and later on Natas and Jim Thiebaud. The signatures either make or ruin the deck, depending on your viewpoint! It sold for $740 on 23 bids.

Here we have a Tracker Dan Wilkes “Dinosaurs” deck from 1987. It’s full sized and NOS. The deep green stain is awesome, and the orange and pink in the graphic really works beautifully here. It’s the best Wilkes I’ve ever seen! It sold for $550 on 19 bids.

And finally from the 80s this month we have this Skull Skates Wasted Youth band deck from 1987. Skull issues a bunch of different band decks in this time period. The most famous (and most valuable) is the Social Distortion, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Vandals decks do OK too. This is probably the least known of their band decks, but it’s NOS and a mid 80s Skull Skates, so it deserves a place here! It sold for $578.

90s-present day

First up in the 90s section this month we have this Zorlac Craig Johnson “Fire Demon II” deck from 1991. It’s the same main graphic as the original “fire demon”, but has some background smoky swirls that do add to the graphic. It’s also on a more modern shape and the deck is double drilled. This deck seldom comes up on eBay, and this one is NOS and in a great colorway to boot. It’s in NOS condition, never mounted or gripped. It sold for $828 on 6 bids.

Here we have a Powell Peralta Mike McGill “Puffer fish” from 1990. It’s in NOS condition and in the killer red dip! It’s a striking looking deck, and is one of those decks that was changing hands for less than $200 a few years back. But now? This one sold for $635 on 16 bids.

And also from 1991 we have this Zorlac Rob Mertz “Shark”. The seller says it’s a 1988 but it isn’t. It’s a later, San Diego Zorlac version. The nose is double drilled and it has the newer top logo. It’s NOS and in a nice purple stain. Is it just me though, or does this look super long? Maybe the photo was scaled or something. This went for $566 on 12 bids.

And here we have a World Industries Rodney Mullen “Rock is King” deck from 1992. Rumor has it that World knew that Rodney wouldn’t approve this graphic so they pushed it out while he was on tour without his knowledge. The first time he saw it was when a kid brought it to him to be signed! This one is in good used condition. It has some wear on the tail and has clear grip all over the topside. This sold for $501 on 18 bids.

And staying with the early 90s Zorlac decks we have this NOS Donny Myhre “Viking” from 1991. Like the Mertz and Johnson above it is double drilled, but this one looks to be on a more basic (and more functional perhaps) shape. The natural woodstain is super nice, and the graphic is very clean. It sold for $512.

Assorted Crap

So first up in the miscellaneous section this month we have this SMA Jay Adams deck. There were only 50 made, and this is #3, so that’s pretty special, right? The graphic on the deck is from an ad from his 1984 SMA deck: he’s holding the deck in front of his face. This deck is from 2009 and was much in demand, because this one sold for $589.

And here we have this vintage Santa Cruz Jeff Kendal “Snake” t-shirt from 1989. It’s a size large and in very good used condition. There are a couple of stains and some pinholes, but I don’t think stuff like this really matters because this sold for $500. I mean really, who is paying this kind of money for old t-shirts? Santa Cruz has reissued a lot of these t-shirt designs and who can really tell the difference? In fact a new t-shirt will probably be better quality than the 80s ones, which were often a polyester, blend that shrunk like crazy. Or are all of these being shipped over to Japan?

And finally this month we have this set of G&S Rollerball wheels from the late 70s. And even better they are in a mix of colors so you can really impress folks at the park with your rainbow wheels! There are two yellows, one orange and one green. The wheels are minty fresh, and despite the fact that they are a little faded, they are still pretty damned cool. They sold for $305 on 9 bids.

Here’s those videos. See ya next month.

-Neil