eBay Watch: May 2007

I’m keeping the same deal in May as I did in April. No Jessees, Grossos, McGills or Hawks. We’re all sick of looking at them, right? Instead there will be more unusual stuff. Maybe not as high dollar, but a lot less dull. This month also saw the Ray Underhill charity auction. Lots of pros and industry bigwigs auctioned off items of interest to raise money for Ray’s medical bills. Now, while this a worthwhile cause and I applaud all of the people who bid high on the auctions, these were often one of a kind items, or more common items that were signed, whose prices were far higher than normal because of the cause. So I won’t be featuring a ton from the Underhill auctions, just a few random items that grabbed my attention.

This month, the column is fueled by nothing. I’m late getting this out because with the weather actually being good I’m out there skating more instead of typing this. So I’m trying to keep this quick and to the point. Also, I want to mention the Art of Skateboarding site. I use it for some of my research, and although it’s not 100% reliable (who is?), it is an invaluable resource. You should check it out.

60s/70s.

First up, We have this Sims Brad Bowman from 1979ish. Big wheel-wells, cut outs where the snakes are, and lots of mini Brad Bowman decals. That is one sweet deck. Drilled for a tail bone and with a nose bone still in place. It makes no difference. It’s still a great deck. $899.

This appears to be the month of Casters on BayWatch. We have 3 of them, which is an avalanche, because most months we don’t see any. These two use but in great shape Caster Inouye “pool service” decks went for $2,348. You NEVER see these, so to see 2 get auctioned off together was crazy. I don’t know the history behind these but somebody out there must?

And we have the other. It’s a Caster Chris Strople. Certainly not mint, but very clean. I find it interesting that it is shaped like a pig, but the custom grip tape was obviously cut for one of the Innouye stinger decks: it clearly doesn’t fit this model correctly. Still, very interesting. $950.

Now this deck looks very pain, right? It’s a Kryptonics “K-Beam” team deck from 1979, very similar to the Salba deck that they released at the same time. I guess the K-Beam featured a strip under the truck axis where the maple plies were laminated vertically so the rest of the board could use fewer horizontal plies, with some sort of graphite paper over the laminate. Or something like that. It was supposed to make it lighter and strong. Whatever it was made of, it is in high demand, because it went for $2,275.

Here’s a nice complete from the late 70s, but it leaves me cold for some reason. It’s the G&S Dennis Martinez “flying aces” model, complete with ACS gold trucks and some kind of HUGE conical wheels. Remember, back in the day super wide trucks hadn’t come to market yet, so to deal with the wide deck, small truck dilemma, super wide offset wheels came into being to stop the board from being too tippy. Apart from the crappy stickers on nose and tail, this is clean but uninspiring. $787.

Now we have something unusual. Somebody with a lot of very old Powell Peralta stuff sold 2 lots of 3 decks, both very similar. The lots featured two Brite Lite decks, one in yellow and one in orange, and another generic Powell logo deck that predates the Powell Peralta merger. All very hard decks to find, especially in this condition. This is the first auction, and the lot of three decks went for $5,625.

Then we have this very similar lot that went a few days later for $4,250. Very, very similar, as you can see. But if you look really close you can see differences in the wood grain, so they aren’t the same decks. Somebody made almost $10,000 with these two auctions. Nice.

Talking of Powells, here’s a beat to hell Ray Bones Rodriguez. Talk about a snub nosed pig!! And the owner must have really hated Ray for some reason, because he spray painted over his name! Vintage Powell stickers too (no Peralta!) $875.

Now this is a beauty. A Dogtown Red Dog in a rare white paint, with ACS trucks and Road Riders (I think). Obviously not mint, but shit, that thing is in awesome condition for being 30 years old! That would look nice in anybody’s collection. $588 seems like a steal.

Now this deck is so dull that I wasn’t even going to include it, but the price meant that I had to. It’s a Sims undrilled Superlight deck with vertical bands of different laminates. Beautiful and obviously very rare if the price is anything to go on! $2,026.

And here’s the jersey you should wear while skating that deck. Shit, you just dropped over 2 grand for deck, why not another $500 for the matching jersey? The eBay description had the whole life story of the jersey: it’s being sold by the guy who was on the team. It’s a shame he has to sell it, but life throws us all curveballs sometimes. $510.

I saved the best for last. At least I think so. It’s a Bun Buster deck by Cooley and Associates (catchy name for a skateboard company) from the 60s. Stupid concept and simple graphic, but the ad that goes with it makes it for me. Apparently it’s made of imported Australian Yuba wood with rubber and plastic wheels. I think it says that this model is $19 and you can get decals for 15¢. Too sweeet! By the way, the ad is from the first Skateboarder magazine. $357.

80s

First up is the Fogtown “Beast”. I used to look at the Fogtown decks every month in Thrasher in 83-84 and wonder what their deal was. I never actually saw anybody riding one, and they didn’t have any pro models or a team, which added to the mystique. They must have been very limited, because you seldom see any of them. $610.

Once upon a time collectors would have broken the bank when a Zorlac Big Boys came up. But everybody who wanted one must have one, plus they reissued it, keeping the casual collectors away. End result? $699 for a classic Zorlac.

Now this is special. A special skater and his best graphic on an unusual stained deck: half orange, half red. I have never seen this colorway on a G&S Blender “coffee break” before. $1,125.

You would expect over a grand on a mint Blender, but this one (and another later) surprised the hell out of me. Buck Smith was an east coast vert skater. I’m sure that he ripped, probably still does, but even his biggest fan would have to admit that he wasn’t one of the biggest names on the vert scene. So for this Sims Buck Smith to go $1,225 was amazing. It’s a nice graphic, but for the deck of a second tier pro to go for over a grand is a new standard. I’d guess that a couple of years ago it would have gone for about $200.

Oh shit. Another Caster! And who knew that Caster was making decks into the early 80s? On this model they were obviously inspired by the new wave Sims graphics of the time because it’s just horrible. It looks like they took some old Inouye models and repainted them to suit the times. The Caster Blaster. Ouch. $430.

I don’t feature Skull skates decks too often. They don’t come on eBay that often actually, so when this Dead Guys model came up I was all over it. It sold for a disappointing $266 which really surprised me for such a famous deck from this hardcore company.

The Vision Mark Gonzales “Gonz and Roses” deck from 1989. His 4th pro deck(?) Everything old and Gonz related sells for big cash, so why should this be any different? $1,035. And it’s not even mint: look at the wear on the tail. It’s also known as the sweatpants deck for some reason.

I don’t know that I’ve ever featured a Claus Grabke before! This is his first model on Santa Cruz and is the one they reissued (one of their better efforts btw). You don’t see this deck at auction often if at all, and especially not in this rare colorway. $443.

Now this one is a case of an uninformed buyer bidding against himself. It’s a later Hosoi street model. The “street flag” actually. Not particularly rare, with a dull shape and graphic. But the seller did a great job of talking it up, and it only takes one buyer for a sale. This auction had only one bidder, and for some unexplained reason, the buyer ended up paying $1,500 for this deck. As a frame of reference, this deck commonly sells for around $450 mint. Whoa. (Update: the buyer of the Hosoi Street Flag flaked out and didn’t pay, so the deck went back on in June for a much lower Buy It Now.)

Fuck me, I love this deck. It’s a Santa Cruz Jeff Kendall “Jagermeister” for the uninformed. Jeff has had some horrible graphics and some great graphics in his time. This is his best, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why he didn’t reissue this. You don’t see this deck come up very often, and I’ve never seen it in this blaze orange colorway. Spectacular. I don’t even mind that it’s a complete. Complete with Indys and bullets, with Cell Block IIIs and rails close to the middle because of the concave. Very tasty. $464? A bargain at that price. Excellent.

Here we have a Schmitt Stix Joe Lopes “barbecue” model with the bbq sauce splatters. It looks nice in this blue colorway. $331.

And this. Wow. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a mint Dogtown Malba “Street Demon” before, but especially not in this knockout silver paint. This thing is just beautiful. Man they did some nice work back in the 80s. I love the way that the drop shadow fades into the silver at the bottom there. Really, really nice. $340?? That’s robbery right there. Maybe because it’s had to make out his name or the fact that it’s a Dogtown?

And how about this, another excellent Malba deck. This is the Santa Cruz “grave” model from 1985, 3 years earlier than the Dogtown above. It was released in this pig model first, then they did a later cutaway model. It really pops on the yellow paint. This was a great month for Malba collectors. $555.

How many of you knew that Lance Mountain had a pro model on Variflex years before his first Powell-Peralta model? Well he did, and here it is. It’s from 1983, and even in worn condition is still rare. How rare? $500 rare.

Now, here’s another beauty on silver paint, very similar to the Dogtown Malba. This time it’s a Vision Ken Park “wizard” model from 1988. Ken Park, or Krap Nek as he was affectionately known was one of those guys that was always in the prelim runs of the Vision contest videos, doing axle stalls and little airs. He never made the cut but he was always there. What I’m trying to say is he was never in the elite of the vert brigade, so for this deck to reach $867 is amazing to me, much like the Buck Smith above. Yes it’s a nice paint scheme, but the graphic is well silly and looks like it was pushed too far to the nose. What do I know I guess.

Yes folks, it’s a Sims Pharaoh from around 1987. It is one of those team decks that is instantly recognizable and highly desirable. You can see why: unusual shape, top to tail graphic, would have appealed to young kids. The collector sites are full of people who want this deck. It went for $811, and would have gone for far more probably had it not been so scratched on the tail. Being a complete hurt too. Once the trucks come off there’s probably some bad discoloration under the risers.

Santa Cruz Salba tiger on purple dip: $760. I wasn’t going to put it in, but I don’t know that I’ve seen a tiger go for that much before: almost as much as the Salba voodoo below. That’s just crazy.

And here’s the Salba voodoo. It looks great on the white, and apart from the Jimmy’Z sticker (which should be easily removed), it looks to be in great shape. $810. These used to go for thousands of dollars. I’m not sure what happened.

I’m not going to feature any more Powell Vallelys for a while: I’m sick of them, but this SMA/World Industries Vallely elephant 2 is a different matter. Standing on the edge of a precipice, looking down. Did Mike make the right decision to quit the biggest skateboard company in the world? Great graphic. The color scheme isn’t the best, but it went for $525.

90s-today

I don’t know much about this deck, and it’s not featured on Art of Skateboarding, so here goes. It’s a Plan B (Update: H-Street, actually.) Sal Barbier from around 1993. He must have loved low riders because they featured on a number of his graphics. People must like him or this deck. $641.

And here we have a World Industries Ron Chatman from 1992. I have no idea about the graphic. Maybe he and his wife just had their first child? But the model is called “alone and nude” so who knows. $653.

Are Hook-Ups even around anymore? I’m not sure, but you gotta love all of their big-boobed graphics. At least I do. Most of them are pretty generic, but this one is something special. It’s the “Alice and friends” deck, featuring Alice from Wonderland. The Hook-Ups decks were widely available and cheap, but have become quite collectable. $285.

This is not one of Rodney Mullen’s most memorable graphics. It’s a World Industries street deck from 1991. I guess he’s the big dog that has killed all of those famous cartoon cats and put them on the wall. Wow. $405.

You know what? I fucking hate this deck, and you’ll never see it on here again. It’s the H-Street Chad Vogt “Madonna” slick deck, that features lots of different snaps of the woman that sucked all of the talent out of Guy Ritchie. Cheap and crappy looking and totally lacking in any design sense or style. It’s shit. $586.

Ray Underhill Auctions

Ray Underhill has brain cancer and the medical bills are unreal as you can imagine. So all of his friends in the skate business put up articles to be auctioned to raise money for him. Some were just signed decks, shoes etc, but some went far above and beyond that and really stood out. Here are some of those.

Birdo from Consolidated sent along this series of decks that were never officially issued. They were going to do a corporate kiss-ass series, but pulled the plug on it, and these are the only decks in existence. I don’t know who the 3 folks are: does anybody? The one in the middle kind of looks like Roskopp. Anyway, the series went for $1,552. Nice one.

Yes, for the low low price of $1,425 you too can be the owner of one of the Gonz’s crappy doodles. Actually this is better than most, and it is for a good cause so I’ll stop being an asshole.

Here we have a World Industries Mike V “Animal Man” deck from his own personal collection. $1,100.

And this. This was one of the coolest things up there, Rodney Mullen’s Transworld “Skater of the Year” trophy from 2002. You know it’s a one of a kind, but what the fuck is that trophy supposed to represent? A Rubber ball? It’s supposed to be the earth I assume? Wow. $800.

Who is this scary freak and why’s he showing us how big his dick is? Why it’s none other than Grant Brittain, the founding photographer of Transworld, and more recently the photo editor for The Skateboard Mag. He is offering an afternoon skateboard photo class at a secret location, the subject of whom is Tony Hawk. Plus your best photo would be featured in The Skateboard Mag. So it’s a pretty rad auction if you can get by the insane grinning psycho. You get to hang with Grant and Tony and get your photo published. You had to pay for all expenses, but still. It was wildly popular, ending at $2,800. No word on whether the pupil got out alive.

And finally this month, we have this Ray Underhill deck signed by all of the Bones Brigade and Stacey Peralta and George Powell. A nice collectors item that went for $802.

All told the Underhill auction was a great success that raised over $47,000, all of which will go to Ray and his family. Well done to everybody that contributed or bid on the auctions. And good luck Ray.

Seeya next month.

-Neil