eBay Watch: July 2007

I have no big statements to make this month. Just an apology for being late with this. Weekends are always super busy, especially now that the weather is decent in Chicago. Saturday is skating, and Sunday is doing stuff with my daughter. So this gets pushed back. And back. And back. Oh well.

This month is brought to you by “Secondhand Daylight” by Magazine. iTunes has the entire Magazine collection, a lot of it remastered. I’d forgotten how good their early stuff was.

60s/70s

First up, we have this Sims Dave Andrecht complete The deck is in great condition, and it also has Tracker Extracks and Gullwing Wings wheels. The Andrecht name down the middle has been taped over and reblacked, but it’s still a great board. The auction ended at $700.

And here’s another, this one in even better condition. Super clean, and it has the lettering under the Andrecht name that the other one is missing. It has Powell wheels, but he doesn’t say what the trucks are. The back one looks like an early Indy, but the front looks like a Tracker. It’s a very nice complete. The auction ended at $2,000.

Here’s a Powell Peralta Brite Lite from 1978. Apparently it’s never been taped or set up, and must be rare as hell, but the price really surprises me. The auction ended at $3,049, which is crazy high. Wow.

This is an original Dogtown Jim Muir t-shirt. It’s also been signed by Jay Adams, which really dates it. Sweet, worn vintage t-shirt that went for $380. That’s all that needed to be said really, but what was more incredible is that the seller posted a 3 paragraph description of it, going into his own skating history and the history of the shirt. Wow.

Here’s a Santa Cruz Duane Peters from 1979. This board is well thrashed, but the scars and stickers really add to it. I love the old thrashed Indys, the back one having a busted coper, the coned conical wheels and the 999 sticker on the tail. The top even has a Marina Skatepark sticker on it. Just awesome. The auctioned ended at $535, which isn’t bad at all.

Ooh. A Jay Adams flyaway helmet from 1977-78. It was purchased at the Marina Skatepark mentioned in the Duane board above, which is a strange coincidence. Great condition and an awesome 70s color scheme. The auction ended at $455.

Here’s a G&S Proline team deck from 1979. It has a great stinger shape and finger cutaways, none of which you can tell from the crappy picture. Apparently it has ACS trucks too, but this was the only photo, so who knows? Come on now. If you want to make big money selling old boards, put up a decent picture of the whole board otherwise it looks like you’re hiding something. Anyway, the auction ended at $560.

Here’s a vintage Hobie Gregg Weaver pro model from the early 70s. Like a lot of decks from the time, the deck is a hardwood laminate consisting of 6 or 7 different types and colors of hardwood strips with pin striping between. It has Bennett trucks, and the wheels are Hobie Fat Reds. The thing is untouched and looks 99% perfect. Awesome. The auction ended at $634.

Here’s another awesome complete. It’s a Z-Flex Jay Adams Z-Woody model. It has Tracker Trucks and orange and green AWW wheels(?) The stickers alone are great: Tracker Trucks, Kryptonics, Skateboarder Magazine. Not mint obviously, but it looks really nice. The auction ended at $647.

(Brad K pointed out that the AWW wheels are probabbly Alva wheels, since the logo may look like it says AW-something to non-skaters or people who are unfamiliar with the brand)

Now here’s a beauty. Or set of beauties. It’s a set of Henry Hester Road Rider wheels. NOS, as clean and shiny as they were in the 70s. Dig that awesome translucent red. The auction ended at $450.

Here’s the obligatory Dogtown Shogo Kubo Airbeam deck. Not mint, but in very nice condition. It has a hideous/awesome “Caution, Haulin’ Ass” sticker on the nose, which detracts from the graphic, but is a sign of the times. Too bad it didn’t have the “Keep on Truckin” sticker too . . . . The auction ended at $1,250.

And here is a perfect Sims Taperkick from the early 70s. Again with the strips of hardwood, finished with the pin striping and the logo down the middle. It’s undrilled and perfect. Like an untouched sandy beach early in the morning before you run your big-ass ugly feet all over it. Too sweet. The seller says that it’s “the Graal of the Graal” whatever that means. Maybe it’s Finnish for grail. The auction ended at $800.

Yes these are vintage magnesium Tracker SixTracks from the late 70s/early 80s. Very rare, and almost mint. Never ridden. Apparently these aren’t “some spray painted knockoffs”: I had no idea there was a cottage industry of people making Tracker magnesium copies for profit, but I digress. The auction ended at $379.

80s

Let’s start off the 80s section with 2 Vision decks. That’s a rarity in itself, but these 2 are very unusual. They are both from 1989, and were issued when that first Batman movie came out, you know, the one with Jack Nicholson as the joker. What a lot of fuss for a crappy movie that caused. Now, neither of these decks were released in the USA because Vision didn’t have the licensing agreement to do so, but they were released in Europe. The batman deck went for $539, and the joker for $821. I guess people prefer villains. The same buyer purchased both decks.

Here’s a nice, bright Cab pig from the early 80s. I like how the nose is so short that you can’t see it behind the front truck. The trucks are Gullwing Pro HPG IVs, and the wheels are 85a ratbones. Slight wear on the edges and the owners name is scratched on the deck right below the Powell Peralta logo. There is evidence of a broken green lapper on the super high bolts on the back truck. Those fuckers would snap after about 2 sessions. $530.

And here’s an Alva Bill Danforth “circle of skulls” model. His first for Alva, this deck is a favorite of Alva collectors. This natural model has Indys and OJ IIs, along with the beefy Schmitt Stix rails. Obviously it’s not new, but it is a really solid and nice looking complete. He matched the rails and cell blocks to the colors in the deck almost perfectly. The yellow tailbone needs to go though. $380.

Here’s a Dogtown Dressen from 1988. Mint apart from some storage scuffs from being on the wall. My memory is so bad. For some reason I’m sure that I had this board in 88, but I have no recollection of buying it or skating it. But the graphic looks super familiar. Maybe I had the t-shirt? Maybe. $750.

Now this board I did have, except mine was a full size, not a mini. It was my second “real” board after a Powell vato rat. It was blue with an orange skull. The shape was odd, but I got used to it really quick. I learned backside boneless ones on this deck. Below the eBay deck is a picture of Kilwag skating my Gibson in Champaign IL 1986. He’s doing some kind of curb tail slide. Note the superbird and hammered nose from wall rides. But I digress. This one is mint apart from storage marks. You don’t see them come around too often, but being a mini hurt the value. $500.

(Man, there was a lot of plastic on that board, even tail rails. I can hear it rattling now…- K.Ed)

And here’s a Vision Mark Gonzales of similar vintage. His first model, this one even has front wheel wells. It’s listed as NOS, never mounted. Its’ even autographed on the tail. Sweet colorway for this one: an excellent piece of skate history. $816.

Jesus, it’s yet another Vision! Tom Groholski was a vert pro from the east coast who absolutely ripped. This is his first graphic, featuring the New Jersey devil. The board is in great condition, but has some really funky wheels on there. They are called Mad Hogs, and have some kind of funky holed out core. The graphics are a Santa Cruz Bullet rip off. I’ve never seen them before. $356.

Jason Jessee was the happening 80s pro with collectors last year. Now it’s Jeff Grosso. Everything of his is going up, and this acid tongue is no exception. It is a great specimen though: the purple dip is awesome and it’s as bright as if it had rolled off the presses yesterday. But still, $1,125? That is a lot.

It seems like there have been a lot of Guerrero V8’s recently. This one is pretty damned clean though. The silver is appealing, and I love the name in script on the tail. And the age is obvious because of the classic Powell boxed wheel wells front and rear. This is a great piece. $800.

Yes Black Label just reissued this H-Street Matt Hensley deck in a lot of different colors. Did that affect the value of the original? At $1,167 I would say not. That’s a lot for a very plain looking deck. Of course it is autographed. Yowza.

This one shocked me. It’s a Skull Skates Hosoi Hammerhead Max, and that makes it rare, but that color scheme! Whoah. Totally Miami vice, totally 1986. Ugly as sin in my book, but somebody liked it enough to win it with an offer of $1,250. I can’t imagine where you would put this deck. It would clash with everything else in a room. I can’t look at it anymore.

Now, I had the Zorlac Gibson, while Kilwag has the Zorlac Craig Johnson, just like this one. Here he is, perched on the edge of one of the benches on the quad, in full pose mode. Note the front truck is a Tracker and the back is a Thunder. That’s how we rolled. Actually this is interesting. There must have been different versions. Kilwag’s has a blunt nose, while the one in the auction has a round nose. It’s in nice condition. $610. BTW, Zorlac is now selling reissues of both the Gibson and the Johnson, completely faithful in graphic and shape. They have done a really nice job with them.

(That’s a Tracker truck with the plastic baseplate and coper on the front and Thunder truck with Indy coper on the rear. What a Frankenstein setup. – K.Ed)

Now this is a very hot deck right now. The Santa Cruz Jeff Kendall “Atom Man”. I dig the colorway on this one: the lime green stain makes the graphic pop. Mint in shrink. This was recently reissued in the Dust to Dust series which is all grey, along with the Salba voodoo. Good luck finding that btw. Limited to 750 decks, most of which went in the first week. Anyway, I digress. $610.

Zorlac Metallica. Seems to be in very nice condition. The stickers detract from the graphic though, and are an odd choice. A SC Jeff Kendall snake sticker on the nose, and a Powell Peralta boneite sticker on the tail? The deck is actually in really nice shape and the natural wood stain is very attractive. Pull those bitches off of there and you get more money, guaranteed. $420.

Now this is a rare one. It’s a Skull “Steve Olson Skates” checkerboard model from around 1986. From what I remember Steve had his own company after leaving Santa Cruz with the name Steve Olson Skates (SOS). It didn’t take off at all, so he signed with Skull and put this out in 86 as his first board for them. It’s complete with Trackers w/ copers and Sims wheels. It has an odd choice in plastic too: red and lime green rails, green tailbone, red nose bone. $325. Interesting board.

Here’s a Sims Jeff Phillips “bust out” model: his first on Sims, but second overall. (He had an earlier model on G&S with a similar graphical theme) . Black Gullwing trucks and Bones threes wheels. It has wheel wells front and back, and has the E on top of the deck meaning it uses Sims Epoxy construction. This is one of the earlier models, because they changed the type a little. $275.

You think there’s a demand for SC to reissue this graphic? I’d say so. A few months ago this deck routinely went in the $600 range. This red stained beauty? How does $2,000 grab you? I have the feeling that the seller threw the deck up with a huge Buy It Now, never thinking anybody would touch that, but July’s crazy bidder, frgonzalez9 jumped all over that shit. He must be loaded. Of all of the auctions I’ve featured this month, he probably won at least a third of them. Looks like he wants an instant collection. He bid on all sorts too, reissues, 70s boards, SC 80s decks. All over the place. Hey man, write us, I’d love to interview you.

Here’s the Powell Peralta Skull and Sword deck from 84ish. It doesn’t have Ray Bones Rodriguez name on it, so it’s obviously after he left the team. I thought that would make it worth less, but I guess not. $1,125. Plain deck, but Powell collectors must dig it. I don’t.

The mid 80s Alva team. A crazy bunch of skaters, with a woodshop to match. Decks with crazy shapes, and the most imaginative screening in the business. Fades, speckles, airbrushing. It really seemed like no 2 decks were alike. Here’s a Fred Smith “punk size” mini model from 1987.I really like the black-green fade on the outside of the deck, something Dogtown started but didn’t do for very long. It makes the deck really stand out. The graphic is crap, but that’s another story. $325. Won by frgonzales again.

Talk about highly sought after, here’s the Santa Cruz Rick “Spidey” Demontrond deck from 1987. It was a very short run, and was his only deck. I don’t know if it’s the Sex Pistols graphic or the legendary status of the pro, but it’s highly collectible. You never see a mint one come along. $1,108.

Man, the Sims Staab has taken off. I thought it used to be kind of a joke, the whole dayglo/pirate dealie seemed high on the kookometer and to be aimed at the kids, but he has stuck true to his roots, kept on skating, and still rips today. Lots of folks must have fond memories, because this NOS deck went for $1,325. Who to? frgonzales of course.

90s-today

I have mixed thoughts on this one. It’s a modern British deck obviously with artwork by the infamous street artist Banksy. The graphic is classic, much in the vain of the Sid Vicious t-shirt that featured 2 cowboys adjusting each others ties, naked from the waist down, dicks touching. However, word is that these decks are complete ripoffs and have nothing to do with the artist himself. Whatever the truth it went for $400.

So hands up who knew that G&S did an artwork series, featuring famous pieces from great artists? Yeah, my hand is down too. Well they did, and here’s the Marilyn by Warhol deck as proof. Nice. I like it. $531.

And I don’t remember this one at all. It’s a Real Tommy Guerrero “American” slick model from 1993. I can’t find any other info on the deck at all. Maybe it was his last pro model? $471.

I love this board. It’s a Santa Cruz Jaya Bonderov “Shiva” deck from 1994. Very rare, vivid colors, great graphic. I’m digging this one. $400.

And look! It’s a 101 Natas deck, the “sock puppet” slick from 1994. Very rare in good condition. This has been skated, but very lightly obviously. Of course the graphic is total crap. Imagine the surprise of the wife when she sees how much this brought on eBay. She’s probably been nagging him for years to get rid of “that ugly piece of crap”. “Honestly honey, it may be worth something, and I might skate again one day”. “Sure you will. Lose some weight first. Let me burn it”. Well the joke’s on her: it ended at $1,075.

I couldn’t do a BayWatch without a Vallely. Here’s the World Industries “circus” model. His third on WI. The graphic is steeped in symbolism, showing what Mike thought of the skate industry at that time. The message s that he’s had enough of being a performing circus clown, evidenced by his walking away from the launch ramp and broken board. Nice. $525.

Reissues

Reissues have been blowing up recently. High how? Just watch.

Actually, I really dig this. It’s a collection of all of the Dogtown reissues they put out a couple of years ago. It’s rad to see them all together like this, and they are all signed by Wes Humpston which pulls the collection together. Quick guys, pop quiz: name them all. Big Foot, Biniak, Muir, Humpston, Constantineau. That’s a great display item, and $800 seems like a real bargain.

OK, get ready to crap yourself. This Roskopp IV reissue went for $660. Yup, a reissue. You probably saw it in the store a couple of years ago and thought, “who’d buy that?” Now you wish it was you. Seriously, these will be higher than the originals soon. Who bought it, why our old friend frgonzales.