Let’s call this the Jason Lee Blind "Aladdin Sane" month. You seldom see this deck: there hadn’ been a mint one in almost 2 years, and in this 60 day span three went off, all for over $2000. Weird. Rumor has it there was a 4th too, but I didn’ catch that one. So let’s start with Blind.
Blind
First up we have this hot pink version of the 1993 Jason Lee Bowie deck. This one went for a huge $2,938, and was purchased by the actor himself. He’s got a hit TV show, so he can afford it.
And now we have this Bowie in a nice purple stain. $2,800.
And finally we have this green version. $2,425.
How much would a used one go for? Good question. How about $300 for a trashed one? I believe the guy who sold the pink one for $2938 bought this one to replace it.
Let’s stick with Blind for a minute. This crappy Rudy Johnson from 1992 went for a huge $999, and I say huge because it’s a shit graphic. Completely underwhelming.
And here’s one that caused no end of controversy. Blind recently "reissued" a series of handboards that are repros of that first run of Blind decks that ripped on Powell. To repeat, these are handboards, and are widely available for $15 each. However, they appeared on eBay before they hit the stores, and the sellers were very careful in hiding the fact that they were handboards. So much so that this set went for $212. The buyer must have been fucking furious, especially when they hit the stores a week later for $45 a set.
Powell-Peralta
Let’s start with a couple of unusual Powells. The first is the Adam McNatt "Claudia Schiffer" from 1992. It’s very rare to find a mint one. $492.
And here’s an equally rare deck. The Pat Brennan slick from 1992. $501. Both of these decks were produced in skating’s darkest time, and were probably produced in very limited numbers. Nice.
Here’s one we all know and love: the Kevin Harris "mountie" freestyle deck. One of my local shops had this deck on the wall. It had belonged to a smoker though, so the white paint had turned yellowish from all of the smoke. Nasty, but I digress. $647.
You want some Hawks? How about this beautiful black dip version of the birdclaw. The blue trees look menacing in this colorway. Very nice indeed. $417..
This next one shows the insanity that is eBay. Collectors try to make sense of this hobby, but you can’ make sense of it. This is a pretty common deck, especially in red. A mint one should go for around $250, and this isn’ mint. It has big ass purple rails in it, a tail block and grip tape on top. Old Trackers? $40. Whatever wheels they are? $40 tops. This is a $300 complete at the very top end. Some buffoon paid $735 for this. As a result, Hawk decks spiked for a couple of weeks until they came back down to where they should be. Dipshit.
And Here’s another one that went for more than it should have. This "birdclaw" complete should have gone for $500 tops. It went for $908. Maybe guys who are buying completes work with a different set of rules than the rest of us. They want a rider that looks like what they had 20 years ago, and they don’ care what it costs, and they don’ want to do any research. Or maybe they’re just knobends.
his is an awesome looking deck. The late 80s version of the skull and sword, with the updated shape and the full skeleton graphic behind it. Powell China had a bunch of these for sale a couple of years ago for $250. This one fetched $474.
A Vallely complete. $505. It might be the ugliest complete I’ve ever seen. The blue in the rails, tailbone, nose guard and trucks don’ match at all, giving this a jumble-sale look. Looks like it was put together by a Polish cleaning woman. Ugh. (Oh yeah? Well you’re from the U.K. so that means you’ve got bad teeth and eat bad food! Did I mention that I’m half Polish? Come on, the UGLIEST you’ve EVER seen? – k.ed)
Ooh. A mint white Vallely. $811. Classic. But what’s not classic is the reissue. Let me rant on the Powell Vallely reissue again. They have issued a second colorway for it. Nice idea, except for the fact that it’s baby poop brown. WTF is up with the guys in charge of the reissues at Powell? Maybe they’re colorblind.
Santa Cruz
The Grosso toybox. Some collectors just love those Grossos! This graphic does little for me, but some love it, even with the bad picture. $956.
But this one. . . . Awesome graphic, and it has held its value even through numerous reissues, including a new one by Black Label. Great shape, great colorway. $1,136.
The Jason Jessee "Neptune" sharktail. Classic Jim Phillips graphics. Awesome woodstain. Perfect. $910.
And this one. I always thought that the V8 graphic was obvious and uninspired, but it’s become much sought after. $1,125. More than the Neptune? Crazy.
And here’s an original Jessee "sungod". See how it spells out his name in the beard? $760.
With all of this interest in Jason Jessee decks, how much do the reissues go for? Here’s your answer. $205. And that’s for the sungod reissue. The Neptune reissue goes for more than that. Crazy? Not really. The SC reissues were pretty limited, and a lot were skated immediately, leaving very few mint ones. They will never be worth as much as the originals, but they will still have value. Check the shape difference to the original, above.
Oooh. A Jim Phillips SC/SMA Natas. Getting rarer by the day. Great colorway on this one—the graphics really pop. $1,826.
One of the greatest skate graphics of all time. The simple Steve Olson checkerboard. It perfectly conveys the attitude of the time. Very coveted board, even a used complete like this. $711.
Now this is a deck that has soared in value over the last couple of years. Gregor Rankine was an Australian Pro who skated for Santa Cruz, and I believe that he only had this one model. It must have been a pretty limited release, because this is a much sought after deck. Rumor has it that they only made 1000 of them. His name is spelled Rankin on the top graphic, but Rankine on the bottom. Graphics by Jim Phillips. $1,525. .
Corey O’Brien "reaper". Has held its value consistently over the last few years. $610.
And now to the Salbas. I just dug out the email from Skatepool from when I bought my tiger. It cost me $120 shipped from the UK, and that was 3 years ago. This weird purple one just went for $760.
And this green one went for $515. At least I think it’s green The picture is horrible.
This one is definitely green. $620. The stripes really pop on this one.
And speaking of Salba, here’s the voodoo. Perfect in this color. $1,133. This is another consistently priced deck. Actually I’m surprised that it hasn’ jumped in value.
Assorted
Wow. The G&S Dennis Martinez "Flying Aces" deck. Mint and complete with rollerball wheels. Fuck. Look at those things! So clean. Dig the size of those wheelwells! $699 seems like a steal.
One of my all time favorites. This is from the original Deathbox out of England from the late 80s/early 90s. They put out some great graphics (courtesy of Mac) and had "ahead of the curve" shapes and concaves. They also had some very talented pros on there, like Pete Dossett, the English Tony Hawk. This is his model from 1989. Awesome Mr. Punch graphics. Deathbox decks are almost impossible to find mint. They had a fire at their warehouse apparently which destroyed most of their inventory. Deathbox later became Flip. Anyway, $171.
A sweet colorway for the third version of the Gator graphic. Simple but effective. $801. He’s still a murdering c*nt.
The Vision "hippie stick". One of the Old Ghosts series by John Grigley. Rare to see it mint, and this colorway is nice. $330.
The original Zorlac Crag Johnson graphic. Great shape, great yellow dip. $510. Gringo recently changed back to Zorlac and will apparently be reissuing all of their old graphics and shapes. Hmmm.
A deck by a varibot! Before they became a joke toy store brand, Variflex had the hottest team on the pro circuit, headlined by Losi and Elguera. El Gato was particularly good: just watch him in the Duane Peters movie. This is a classic early Losi pro model. $304.
An early Black Label John Lucero, when they were still being made by Santa Cruz. From 1991 I believe. $330.
Finally this month we have a real rarity. I don’ know anything about this company: Triton. I think they were from the east coast, and they were making some kind of composite deck before anybody else. Very plain, and with ACS trucks I believe. Or they might be Lazers. Late 70s perhaps? I don’ know. All I do know is that somebody paid $1000 for this. Wow.
See you next time.
-neil
