ebay Watch: June 2007

OK, first this month I want to clarify some things. Namely, what Baywatch is and what it is not. It is a column where I list skateboard related auctions that caught my eye the previous month on eBay. It is completely random: I cover what I find interesting, unusual or funny. It is not a price guide and was never meant to be one. I guess because I list the final auction price people sometimes use it in that way, but that is not the prime purpose. If a definitive price guide is what you are looking for, then you are looking in the wrong place.

Now, onto my second point. Making a bid on eBay is a legal contract. A winning bid is a legal contract by law. So when I see an auction has ended and the article sold for over the reserve, I feel pretty secure in listing that as a done deal. Do some people back out and not pay? Sure they do, much as some sellers never ship the item. I report what the auction (a legally binding contract) ended at, assuming that the sale goes through. In over 90% of cases that is the safe and correct assumption. Sometimes the deals do fall through, and if that happens, like with the Hosoi last month, I will try to correct that. Also, I will no longer list outrageous bids by people with zero feedback in the future. But that’s it. I will not verify every auction by calling or emailing people. I will also not list private deals: it’s called Baywatch: it’s the eBay phenomenon I find interesting.

To sum up, this column is far from perfect, but don’t criticize it for failing to be something that it never claimed to be in the first place. Those expectations are yours, they were never mine.

Now onto the meat.

60s/70s.

First up, we have this Dogtown Jim Muir from the late 70s. The rails kept the graphic in almost perfect condition. It comes with Tracker magnesium trucks and Powell wheels. It’s actually a real bargain because as you’ll see in July, a set of the trucks alone go for over $300. The auction ended at $513.

Ooh. A Variflex Eric Grisham. Yup, Variflex used to be a real company, and actually had arguably the best pro team in the industry. Eric Grisham was one of the best skaters on the team. This complete has Indys and Alva wheels. Not to mention the horrendous stickers covering the deck. Oingo Boingo? KROQ? Gotcha? Ouch. The bushings are split and the copers look homemade, but still an unusual complete. The auction ended at $660.

This one is interesting. It’s a Powell Peralta Jay Smith from 1979/80 with Indys and blue Kryptonics. It appears to be much skinner than the regular Jay Smith pigs that you see. It also says BriteLite on the top, so I guess it’s one of the Britelite models, but I didn’t know that they came in pro models. It’s either not drilled straight or the back truck is wonky. Either way the auction ended at $456.

Now here’s a beauty. A Dogtown Shogo Kubo airbeam. I don’t remember if the seller listed it as mint, but it sure looks like it, minus being a complete of course. There can’t be many as clean as this. The auction ended at $2,200.

We had a mint, undrilled Sims Superlight last month, and that one went for over $2000. That was the 10” model. This is the 9”, and obviously has some wear. Still. The auctioned ended at $663, which isn’t bad at all.

Each month I try to feature something from the 60s, and this is no exception. It’s the Surfa Sam, and was made in Sydney, Australia, made by a company called L. H. Nichols. The auction ended at $359.

How about this set of Z Grooves wheels from the late 70s. Very good condition. I don’t remember what the grooves were for—less surface resistance? Less weight? Whatever the reason, the auction ended at $350.

80s

First up is this G&S Neil Blender “scorpion” deck from 1989. It’s never been setup, but it does have some discoloration. It appears to be a natural finish, but it is actually a color faded purple stain. The seller also included a rare, framed original test serigraph on cloth of another Blender graphic. The auction ended at $250.

I love stuff like this! First up, this is an awesome complete. The Powell Peralta ratbones deck looks awesome in this colorway, and the black Gullwing trucks and rails really add to it. One thing though: look at the front truck. Oops!! Ever wonder why you couldn’t ride this thing? That’s right, it’s mounted backwards. I guess that explains why the deck is in such good condition! $307.

Now this is special. A 1982 Sims Brad Bowman “digital” epoxy deck. A real slice of the time, with Variflex rails and tailbone, Motobilt trucks and Sims B-52 wheels. It even has the lapper still on there. And oh yeah, if you ever wondered what sunglasses the seller liked, wonder no more: Oakley. And he had State Farm Insurance. The nose looks like it’s been bitten off by a shark. Brad Bowman was from that forgotten generation of top pros: too young to be famous like the Dogtown guys, but too old by the time the mid 80s boom took off. $393.

Here’s a Vision Mark Gonzales from 1987/88. It’s known as the “color my friends in” model, or something like that. Never mounted, and signed by the Gonz. Very nice colorway for this deck. $1,231.

These used to be rare as hell, but it seems like one comes up every month. It’s the Santa Cruz Jeff Grosso “Alice in Wonderland” model. Nice colors on this one, but it looks like it has some discoloration. Tough to tell on that distracting red backdrop though. $1,999.

Here is the Powell Peralta Tommy Guerrero, first model (V8) with wheel-wells back and front. Obviously used, but the graphic is in pretty good shape. Not bad at all. $331.

But here is the Powell Peralta Guerrero that everybody knows: the flaming dagger. This is a later version, with pointed nose and no wheel-wells. Now then, this looks like one of the completes they used to sell at oldschoolskates.com. They would slap together decks that weren’t perfect, along with Gullwing Sidewinder trucks (they have boxes of them) and your choice of Powell wheels for $159. So this enterprising seller sold his on eBay for $600. Now that’s a nice profit.

This one probably had the Alva collectors all excited. It’s an Alva hammerhead circa 1985, and I believe it has airbrushed graphics. It’s one of those “so ugly it’s rare” decks. $500.

The action on Hawks has become unreal. Simply stupid, and I don’t know why. Even his crappiest graphics from the late 80s are blowing up, and here is a case in point. . It’s not as bad as the toe-knee hawk, but it’s up there. Totally naff graphic that used to be a $70 deck. Not anymore. This went for $192. Now I know that’s not outrageous, but for this? That would almost have bought you the Blender above. And watch this just go up from here. Wave to the photographer in the reflection!

Here’s a Hawk I don’t mind, and this one is climbing too. It used to be in the $400 range, but now? $760.

And let’s not even talk about the screaming chicken skull. Again, they used to be in the $350 range, depending on the color. But not now. The auction for this pink one ended at $1,000.

And for this silver one? $1,275. Shit, I had a yellow one that I sold about 18 months ago for $250. I’m stupid.

H-Street Matt Hensley. Yawn. Seems like these come up every month now. I might ban this deck. People love it though. It’s “Total grailage” according to the seller. Hmm. $1,525.

Can’t make this one out? Well, it’s a Variflex John Lucero: his first pro deck. AOS has it after his Madrid one, but no way. It’s a pig with wheel-wells, and he left Madrid to go to Schmitt Stix. I’m guessing 1983. It’s a VERY rare deck in any condition, even beat to hell. $438.

Somebody asked for me to start putting Mike McGills back in, so here you are. Mint, pink snakeskin. Not much else to say really apart from the seller put a new sheet of grip tape on the top side for some unknown reason. It’s not the original die-cut Powell stuff. No it’s a new sheet that doesn’t fit the width properly and which covers up the top graphic. Silly boy. $625.

Zorlac Metallica. Seems to be in very nice condition. Wonder why he doesn’t show the nose and tail though? $813.

The Lance Mountain “crest” in hot pink. $350. Seems about right.

Is it just me or are Natas decks down recently? This is a nice complete: graphics are in good shape, and it has Indys and OJ II wheels. It’s also the Wes Humpston panther graphic, which used to be highly sought after. $275 seems like a steal to me.

I think one of our old skate buddies, Karl used to have this deck. It’s a Schmitt Stix mini Ripsaw. He could do big ollies for the time (1987). It really stands out in this vivid blue. Very sharp. I dig the cutaways. $300. Schmitt Stix made excellent decks.

Here we have two decks being auctioned off together, as a pair. They are both Steve Rocco decks, the one on the left (the Rocco II) being an SMA, and the one on the right (Rocco III) being a World Industries. Both feature the Winnie the Pooh graphic he made infamous. They are both nearly flawless, and make a very nice lot when auctioned off together like this. $2,500.

You probably can’t make this one out, and this after some color retouching in Photoshop. It’s a Magnusson (pre H-Street) Ron Allen, and was one of the worst photos I’ve ever seen on eBay. The whole thing looked yellow. Very rare apparently, even though it’s hard to tell the condition from the nasty photo. $800.

Matching Salba voodoos. Ever wondered what a used one would go for? Well wish no longer. The well used one in natural wood stain went for $213.

The better teal Salba Voodoo in better condition went for $639. Santa Cruz is supposedly reissuing the voodoo at some point, but we’ll see.

Remember this? Thinking different before it was cool, Skull Skates came out with the “mutant” model in 1988. What made it a mutant? Well, just look at it. They made separate models for both regular and goofy skaters, the shape was mirrored. This is the regular version I believe. The stickers are vintage and classic (Visions Old Ghosts and Joe Johnson) but they are so colorful that they do take away from the aesthetics. $405.

(I rememember these things were kind of joke when they came out. I think they bombed. Skull just re-issued the graphics, slightly updated. Not surprisingly, it’s on a standard shape. – K.ed)

Now, here’s something. It’s a Santa Cruz “stinger”, the original stinger deck, if you ever wondered why this shape is called that. Very rare in any condition, especially looking like this. It could be in the 70s section, but I first saw it in the January 1980 issue of Skateboarder, so its going here! $1,825.

(I think "Stinger" actually refers to a surfboard shape with a cutaway on the tail. So the graphic proabbly refers to the surfboard term K-ed)

Very nice stain job on this G&S Bill Tocco. Teal to pink fade along the width of this 1988 deck. Highly unusual, although G&S did a lot of innovative stuff like this. Bill came back to this octopus graphic again on a later deck, and currently has a model out on American Nomad. $320.

Enjoy this while you can because I won’t be showing the WI Vallely barnyard for sometime. One of the most famous decks ever. Blah blah blah. Great condition, highly prized deck etc. $2,420. Whoah.

The Per Welinder street deck usually goes off in the $400 range, but the freestyle deck is much rarer. This one has been autographed by Per and Steve Rocco, so I guess it’s not officially mint, but it is nice. $910.

And the last 80s deck this month (shit, that was a lot), is the Uncle Wiggley “argyle” first edition from 1982/83. It’s NOS, with minor scuffs and has been drilled for rails. I don’t think it’s the epoxy/fiberglass model. That came later. $224.

90s-today

I don’t think I’ve ever featured a Baker deck before, and that’s probably a good thing. However, this “strip-club” set is killer. All 7 decks, mint in shrink. There’s a sticker on the first deck that says “boobies” that can be removed. I guess they didn’t want to offend little Johnny’s mom. Nice looking set. $935.

Here’s a Santa Cruz Bod Boyle "drunk cat" from 1990. The funny thing is, SC reissued this deck in EXACTLY this colorway about 18 months ago. It surprises me that this original held its value like this. $293.

Nope, I’ve never heard of Cameron Martin either. It’s a Powell Peralta deck from 1990. I guess he was PP’s last true freestyle skater, before that morphed into street. That’s interesting, right? $307.

Fuck me, the Hawk party never ends. Sure the Hawk head graphic above is bad, but this “medallion” deck is pretty crappy too. I guess it doesn’t matter to the great unwashed public though. As long as Tony Hawk is scrawled on it they’ll bid on it. The red one ended at $280, and the natural complete ended at $305. Make it stop!

Royal Hawaiian Pool Service Jason Jessee tribute deck. Very hard to get outside of Japan. I looked for it in Hawaii: couldn’t find it. Crazy. It’s a tribute to his Neptune graphic, but with a bald head, Hawaiian shirt etc. Very nice. $500.

And here’s another, but this one is the reissue from 3 years ago. This one ended at $320, which is the most I’ve seen a SC reissue go for. Wow, these are going to be as high as the originals soon.

And here’s a Jason Jessee “Guadalupe” from 1990. Unusual in this natural wood instead of the more common teal. $560.

This one is money. It’s a Blind Jason Lee mini “cat in the hat”. All Jason Lees are very collectible, and this is no exception, especially in this condition. It ended with a Buy It Now of $1,499, and it probably could have gone for more.

Ok, if I’m wrong on this one, forgive me. I think it’s the World Industries “stick-o-rama” deck from 1991, but I could have the company wrong. It came with a set of stickers to place on the street scene. This is mint along with the stickers. $1,371. Very nice.

World Industries Mike Vallely “snake” from 1990. The deck is close to mint with some light storage marks. It had a Buy It Now of $1,300 which it reached almost immediately. It probably could have gone for far more.

Here’s an H-Street Danny Way “animals” from 1990. It’s one of the better H-Street graphics I think: normally I think their stuff is lousy, but I like this. $400.

This one threw me for a loop. These are Designarium Natas “decks” from a year ago. Natas got semi-famous artists to do their interpretations of some of his graphics. Some were pretty faithful versions, while some were way out there. These are by Thomas Campbell and are definitely waaaaay out there. Nobody was buying these, and you could get them everywhere for cheap. So imagine my surprise when these ended at $406. I don’t get it.

Miscellaneous

All clothes in this section this month. First up is this Bones Brigade tour jacket from1989. It’s super thin, but the graphics make it. It has this graphic small on the left breast, and deck graphics down the sleeves. I assume it’s on the level, but the seller was in Japan, so who knows? $500.

And here’s a multi logo Powell shirt from the late 80s. It looks like the kind of shirt that was issued to pros/team members. Very unusual. $365.

And this is really insane. A Santa Cruz screaming hand hooded sweatshirt from the late 80s. Surely they’ve reissued this graphic on a tee and sweatshirt? It ended at a huge $812. What????

And this. Remember seeing this t-shirt in Product Patrol every month? It’s a Pushead graphic that was kind of cool, but never cool enough to buy. But somebody did, and people want it I guess. $405. Fuck there’s a lot of money burning holes in pockets. What do you do with a $400 t-shirt? Wear it? Put it on the wall? Show it to the other old-timers at the skatepark to get some instant credibility? I don’t get it.

Now this didn’t sell, but I had to feature it anyway. Here’s the description:”Take your socks and shoes off, and hop on this tuck n’ roll vinyl upholstered skateboard for an inside soft cushioned ride down your sweeping hallway, around the dining room table or your office desk. When not rolling about, Inside Skate is cool art; it is sculpture you can ride!” — From InMod.com Wow. The opening bid started at $447. Guess what, no bids.