OK, let’s try something new this month. Instead of breaking it down by company, let’s break it down by era. It spices things up a little bit, and may also give some insight into whether really old stuff is worth more than newer stuff. Let’s start with the 60/70s.
60’s – 70’s
Let’s start off with a real cracker. The "Say Hey" Willy Mays skateboard. Clay wheels, top graphics, the works! From the late 60s I’d guess. This went for a large $1,309, but that might be misleading, because I’m sure that baseball collectors were bidding this sucker up. Most completes of this vintage don’t go for half that. A really neat piece.
It feels like I’ve seen this Sims Brad Bowman deck on here before. I recognize the Indy stickers I think. Anyway, it’s a case of the vintage stickers actually adding to the value of the board. The stickers aren’t random: he rode a Sims deck, with Indy trucks and IPS wheels. It all makes sense. $361
Oooh! A G&S Henry Hester slalom complete from the 70s. I think it has Road Riders on it. A real piece of history, and in great shape too. $511.
And this Dogtown Paul Constantineau "PC Tailtap" is super clean. It looks like it was just purchased! Absolutely unreal to find a complete in this sort of condition. $567.
A very early Duane Peters complete. This might be his first pro deck? Anybody know? AOS has it as such. Anyhow, it’s in great shape, apart from the tailbone. Are those hand painted gullwings on there? Black hangers with red baseplates? Now that’s punk rock. $711.
I think these mint Kryps are from the 70s. If not they are from the very early 80s. Anyway, I had a set of these, and thanks to a good friend, I just got them back! Stoked! (thanks Mark). They are 78A, 70mm. $162. Who knew?
1980’s
I used to have this deck. In this exact colorway. And I have NO idea what happened to it. Randy, do you remember? A group of us Champaign IL skaters went to a July 4th demo in St Louis in 86. Cab was there, and he was skating this deck. It wasn’t out yet, and I freaked when I saw it because I loved it. When it hit the market a month later I got it immediately. There are some pics of me with it, and then poof! I have no idea where it went. Too much cheap beer I guess. Anyhow, this one went for $1,036, so I wasn’t going to buy it for old time’s sake. What bugs me though is that the seller has obviously put his own shrink wrap on it. Like that matters. Next to it is a picture of Cab in St Louis with the deck. (Ahh yes… I remember stealing that deck from you and only riding it late at night in my closet so you wouldn’t find out. – k.ed)
Dave Duncan. Not a name that sold a lot of decks, and if you’d asked back in the 80s who would still be one of the most influential names in skateboarding 20 years on, his wouldn’t have been a name you would have considered. However, he is one of the main ambassadors of skateboarding, and is deeply involved in lots of different ventures. His two Alva decks are both pretty popular, with this one just beating out the tiger in terms of popularity. $149.
An Iron Cross Art Godoy lizard model. The Iron Cross decks are rare as fuck, but it just goes to show that a name (and a graphic that clicked with the kids) has a lot more to do with the value of a skate deck, not just scarcity. This mint natural wood went for $264. I’ve never seen one in this color scheme before.
A beat-up Alva Hosoi, in a rare red colorway. Yes it is rare, but the seller went a little overboard with the hyperbole. $404 seems like a fair price. Mondo did the artwork. Crap wood supposedly.
Jeff Kendall decks have been exploding recently, I’m not sure why. The reissues might have pushed up interest in the real stuff. Anyway, this 1986 Kendall "Graffiti" went for $630, which seems a lot considering it’s not mint. Of course the stickers do work on this deck.
And here’s another Kendall. This one is from 1988. If you look real close you can see that it says Kendall and Santa Cruz in the snake’s spots. A really nice green stain on this one. $647.
The later “San Diego” Zorlacs weren’t highly collectible until last year. Before that it was the Texas stuff: Big Boys, Gibsons and Johnsons. Suddenly the market has exploded for these later period models, particularly this Rob Mertz shark, and the Myrhe alligator. This Mertz went for $401.
Crap early 80s graphic anyone? A Billy Ruff chalice with a huge tail dome and baseplates for some reason. $132. Hmm.
And here’s a stealth complete if ever there was one. A Santa Cruz bevel, probably from 1983-ish. The first bevel had been a Salba model, and had featured the deepest concave known up until that point. This was remade a couple of years later as a team model. It looks rad, and yet cheesy all at the same time. $1000 on the nose.
Speaking of Salba, here’s a tiger on a great green woodstain. $536. The tigers have held their value well.
And here’s one that was difficult to put a value on. It’s a pre-release Salba voodoo model, ridden and tested by Steve himself. It is a plain wood deck, and the graphic is a large sticker, maybe for sizing purposes? It is signed by Steve on the nose. A piece of skate history, no doubt, but placing a value on something like this is tough. Most collectors don’t care about history, they just want something that looks nice on the wall, mint production models only. So something like this goes kind of unnoticed, which is a shame. It was on eBay for awhile, but eventually went for $500. How do I know so much about it? I was the seller.
1990’s and later
Now this was one of the decks that somebody asked us here about first. We got a piece of email asking how much this deck (and some others) would be worth. I’d never seen it before, but looked it up, and found that it’s a super rare Stereo Jason Lee model. I told them that, and then it shows up on eBay. It went for $676: a nice chunk of change, but a thank you after it sold would have been nice. ( That’s it. there’s a mandatory 10% consultation fee now!- k.ed)
The World Industries Mike Vallely barnyard is obviously highly sought after. This one is used but still went for $450.
A Blind Rudy Johnson from 1992. Nice graphic, fun. I’m sure they got a cease and desist. $999.
And this World Industries Steve Rocco went for huge coin, selling for $2,188. It’s a classic graphic, showing Rocco as a satanic pooh-bear. His earlier SMA graphic had portrayed him as pooh, getting the ‘muny? pot stuck on his head. In this one, the pot is off, smashed, and he has emerged as satan in a world industries t-shirt.
Finally this month we have a limited edition of the Madrid Lucero reissue. The regular one was in green, but 10 were issued in gold. Very rare obviously, but really naff looking in my opinion. The graphic just doesn’t work in gold on gold. The green is far stronger. $405.
Well that’s it for another month. Let me know if you prefer the era theme, or prefer me to do it by company. Or maybe nobody is reading this and I’ll just do what I want. . . .
-Neil
