eBay Watch: May 2012

So welcome to eBayWatch, May 2012 edition. And it was another great month, especially in the 90s section, due to a famous skate artist selling off some of his own collection! There’s some insane stuff that went off, but the 70s and 80s had their fair share of big hits and cool looking unusual ones too, so let’s get started.

My music selection this month is the album “Of all things I will soon grow tired” by Long Beach California punkers Joyce Manor. Never heard of them? You should. Look them up. They are on Asian Man records. This is how they describe them: “Four tired guys with a taste for bad Chinese food, Thin Lizzy guitar solos, and calling “shotgun”. Some people have called them the smartphone of modern rock”. They released their first self-titled album in early 2011, and this is the second album released earlier this year. It’s super short, just 9 songs and 12 minutes long, but no two songs sound alike, and they are all great. They do one of the best cover songs ever when they cover “Video killed the radio star”. It’s not your basic punk cover song however, where they just yell 1234 and then play it fast. This is a total reworking of the song with a different melody on the verse and the chorus is pretty much gone completely. They should be sponsored by Vans because they are “Off the Wall”! Rimshot, da daaa! They are a great find though, infectious and original in a sea of clones. And they are on tour so go see them!

60s, 70s, early 80s.

First up this month is this red anodized aluminum (or aluminium depending on which side of the pond you are on) Banzai complete from 1977. The trucks are the original Banzai issue, while the wheels are Power Paw 50/50s. It’s in great, as new condition, and I guess theses boards must really bring back great memories or some because they always sell high. This one went for $470 on 47 bids!

So what at first glance looks like just any other fiberglass board from the mid 70s, this one is actually far more impressive. It’s a Blizzard Super Freestyle, and it’s actually a “Fiberglass sandwich” made in Austria. It also comes with a mint set of Gullwing HPG IV trucks and mint AmPro wheels. It’s in primo condition and is actually a great looking hunk of 70s! It sold for $249.

And here we have a very nice looking South Bay Skates Mike Folmer “Snake Tornado” tribute complete. The deck was a super limited tribute from 2005ish. It is a really accurate reissue of his old Sims board from 1980 so I will allow it. It is super clean and comes complete with vintage Z-Roller trucks and Kryptonics Krypto Lites. It’s a really accurate, well put together complete, and it sold for $299.

Here we have a Variflex Eric Grisham “Arrows” model from 1982. It was his last model on Variflex before he went to SureGrip, and it was right, as Variflex were becoming a peddler of shit. They stopped using Boulder boards and started using toy store crap. It uses bad wood and poor construction. It’s never been set up, but has storage marks and has factory grip. It sold for $163.

Here we have a mint Dogtown Wes Humpston deck from the same seller as the mint Bob Biniak from last month. Apparently his dad owned a skateshop in the UK in the 1970s, and he just started going through the attic or something. It’s one of those collector stories that you dream of but never believe could actually happen! It’s a mint Dogtown from 1978. What more needs to be said? Oh yeah, $2,800 on 30 bids.

Here we have a Z-Flex fiberglass Jay Adams complete from 1976. It comes complete with Bennett Truks and 2 red and 2 green Kryptonics wheels. It is super clean, and doesn’t look like it’s ever seen the pavement actually. It’s an amazing piece of history and it sold for $1,800.

Here we have a Kryptonics K-Beam 2 deck from 1979. It’s a team deck, not one of the Alba decks that you normally see. I don’t know what was different about the K-Beam 2, but this was it! It comes complete with Trackers and old Powell-Peralta Bones wheels. It’s in very good used condition, and it sold for $1,130 on 30 bids.

Here we have a G&S Dennis Martinez “Flying Aces” deck from 1979. It’s in NOS condition, and looks great with the blue bottom ply. I really love the deep wheel wells. It’s a striking deck and it sold for $1.679.

Here we have a piece of skateboarding history, but you wouldn’t know if from the price! It’s a World Champion Skitch Hitchcock model from 1972ish. It’s a fiberglass deck with typical 60s trucks and some VERY early urethane wheels on there: so early that they say Pat Pending! Seriously, this could be a piece of skateboarding history, but it only sold for $46. It’s in very good used condition with some wear to the tail and the top graphic, probably from bare feet!

And finally from the 70s (60s actually) this month we have this vintage 1960s Zippees Lahana M-444 sidewalk surfboard, along with the original box that it came in! It’s a purely Chicago transaction I guess: Zippees appeared to be at 1335 West Randolph, and the board was delivered to a Harold Lewis on 56th street. It’s in NOS condition, and the Zippees clay wheels don’t look they’ve seen the street! It’s awesome and it sold for $325 on 14 bids.

Mid 1980s

So first up in the 80s section this month we have this Alva Hammerhead from 1986 with custom airbrushing by Mondo Beck. It’s not NOS, but you seldom see this deck, so I’ll take it in any condition I get it! Like I said, the airbrushing is custom, so no two decks are alike. It sold for $333.

And he we have another that you never see. It’s an Iron Cross Justin Ashby “pig” from 1989. It’s in NOS condition, but just goes to show that rarity alone doesn’t equal dollars. You occasionally see Iron Cross decks Art Godoy decks, and there is a team deck or two, but I’ve never seen this deck on eBay. I’ve seen pics of it from our interview with the Godoys a decade ago, but never for sale. So there might only be a couple in the world? But Justin Ashby is not known at all, and the graphic is not good. Combine all that and you get it selling for $96. BTW, Justin Ashby was from Brighton, England, which was known as pigtown, hence the pig.

Here we have a Walker Reggie Barnes ‘Egyptian” freestyle deck from 1985. Most other examples of this deck have a hieroglyphics background, but this one is on plain wood, so it’s unusual. It comes complete with gold ACS 651 trucks (!) and first generation Santa Cruz Bullet wheels. It’s a real oddity, and it sold for $235.

Here we have a G&S Neil Blender ‘Rocking Dog” from 1985. It’s NOS, never mounted or gripped. The white dip is a rare one, and the red and pink in the main graphic is simple and effective. It’s a grail quality deck, and although the colorway isn’t the best I’ve ever seen, it still sold for $1,237 on 32 bids.

And here we have an Alva Dave Duncan ‘Claw” from 1987. This is the full sized version and it has the thinner background lines instead of the fewer fatter ones that you often see on the claw. The deck has been gripped and ridden a couple of times, but it’s in very good used condition. The colorway is strong too, and it sold for $215.

And now we have the obligatory Vision Gator ‘Swirl” from 1984. This is one the early ones because it has both rear and front wheelwells, but it doesn’t have the rounded font on the top graphic, so it’s not a first run. It comes complete with Gullwings and Sims Street wheels. The colorway is aces, going from blue to lime green. It sold for $494.

Here we have a Death-Box Sean Goff “Sun” from 1990. It comes complete with Gullwing trucks and Vision Slammer wheels. This is the 80s British Death-box that would later become Flip, not the Foundation funded Deathbox from the early 2000s. I really like the graphic, and you rarely see Sean Goff decks at all, so I was really drawn to this one. Sean skated for Vision, had some models on Brand X and finally had at least 6 models on Deathbox. This is in very good used condition. It sold for $320.

Now here’s an interesting one because it sold twice within the same month! It’s a Santa Cruz Jeff Grosso “Alice in Wonderland” model. Yes we’ve seen it a billion times, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that tail graphic before! The Santa Cruz is just not right! It’s normally a much fatter font making a more complete circle. It’s mint in shrink. It sold in early May for $2,800 in a 3-day auction. That is crazy, because it doesn’t get in front of enough people! I assume that the buyer flipped it a week later, (unless it changed hands in the meantime) and I guess it gained value in that week because it sold in late May for $3,601! Or maybe more people just saw it the second time around.

Here we have a Tracker GSD “Eyeball” from 1986. This one is NOS and in a fantastic colorway. The lime green dip and purple type and eyeball is truly outstanding. There are some surface marks, but overall it’s fantastic. This one is being sold by Larry Balma and like all his auctions comes with a mess of goodies like stickers and a t-shirt. It sold for $379.

I haven’t featured a Powell Peralta Tommy Guerrero “Flaming Dagger” from 1988. The graphic first appeared in 1986, but that was the round nose version, and this is the later pointy nose version. It’s mint in shrink and in a wonderful metallic blue dip. This is a killer looking deck and it sold for $1,313.

And talking of fantastic looking decks, it doesn’t get much better than this Alva Jef Hartsel “Streetfire 2” from 1987. It’s probably the best colorway for this deck that I’ve ever seen. The black to blue fade is superb, and the purple in the main graphic works really well off of the Rasta red, green and gold. It’s just a beautiful looking deck. It sold for $305.

Now here is a deck that used to be everywhere online and would routinely sell for $75 or less, but those days are gone! It’s a Smith Lonnie Hiramoto “Samurai” from 1987. It’s in NOS condition, and in a great yellow to red vertical fade. It’s actually a great looking deck and would display beautifully in any collection. It sold for $300.

Here we have a Hosoi “Tweak Air” from 1986. It was manufactured by Santa Cruz for Hosoi Skateboards, much like they were doing for SMA at the time. The deck looks NOS apart from the rip grip on the nose, which will easily come off. It’s one of the cleanest examples of the deck that I’ve ever seen, and looks great on the white dip. It sold for $1,525 on 19 bids.

Here we have a Variflex Lance Mountain “Lancer” from 1982. It comes complete with Indy stage IIs and Kryptonics wheels. It’s in very solid used condition: remove those three goofy stickers and the pink (?) tail dome and you will have a really great looking Variflex Mountain. Given the condition, the fact that it sold for $621 looks like a real bargain.

Here we have a Sims Lester Kasai “Splat” from 1983. This is one of those completes where the whole is actually better than the sum of the parts. The deck is fairly trashed, and the Tracker trucks and OJ II wheels have seen better days. But all together the combination of the white dip with blue and green graphic, white trucks and green wheels works really well. Even the colorful Slimeballs and OJ stickers on the tail all work. It’s a nice looking vintage complete that should stay that way. It sold for $206.

So here’s a deck that everybody thinks is a bootleg but actually isn’t! It’s a California Hot Skates John Lucero model. He rode for this shop shortly after leaving Variflex and before joining Schmitt Stix. The graphic is the X1, which would reappear as his first Schmitt Stix graphic with much greater effect, but here is the first iteration. It is gripped and has the crappy plastics, but that is the way it came from the factory, so this cane be considered NOS. It’s actually very rare, probably because very few were ever made. This one sold for $750.

And here is a Santa Cruz Natas Kaupas “Kitten” from 1990. It was gripped and set up before, but looks like it was never really ridden, and I have to say that it looks great in the red stain. But for the seller to say that it is nearly mint, well, that wouldn’t be really accurate. And it sold for $500.

Here is an Alva Eddie Reategui “Warrior” from 1988. It’s in NOS condition; never gripped or mounted, but it does have some shelf wear and stress cracks around the truck holes. The colorway is really striking: The neon colors really pop off of the light natural wood. It’s a great looking deck and it sold for $308.

Here we have one that you don’t see too often. It’s a Santa Cruz team logo deck from 1987. It’s still mint in shrink, and I’m betting it looks great in person. The blue dip looks deep and shimmery. The SC logo is weird: I’m not sure why they didn’t use one of their regular typefaces, but there you go. I also can’t make out what the background is supposed to be. It sold for $520.

Ah yes, the Skull Skates Social Distortion deck from 1988. It’s in NOS condition, and was recently purchased at a record store in NY, so collectors take note: you can find stuff anywhere! The black stain isn’t the best, but this is a rare and very desirable deck, both for Skull Skates and Social D collectors. It sold for $999.

So here’s a weird one. Most people only know Seaflex from the Boomcat and the Bob Denike decks. But they did make generic team decks too. Here is an example of that. It’s a huge pig deck the features a small repeating version of the Boomcat graphic, but it has “Clearlight” printed across the top of them for some reason. It has Indy 215s and City Street wheels. The graphic on the topside clearly states Seaflex. This oddity sold for $370.

Here is a Liberty Mike Smith “Rabbit” from 1990. It’s in decent used condition, and I really dig the colorway here. The orange stain works great behind the bright pinks, blues and yellows of the main graphic. It sold for $61. There’s nothing outstanding about this auction really, I simply like the graphic and the colorway. See! There’s no magic about getting your auctions featured on here. It doesn’t have to go super high or anything. I just have to like the graphic, colorway or the photo. Or a combination of all three!

And here we have a Powell Peralta Jay Smith BriteLite deck from 1980. It’s in really good used condition, and has had all offending stickers and plastics removed, leaving only a very bright lime green deck. It was a 6-ply wood deck with 2 layers of fiberglass making it light and flexy. It sold for $961.

And here is another oddity! It’s a Santa Cruz Street Skate from 1984. It comes complete with ACS 800 trucks and Variflex wheels. This thing truly is an amalgam of parts from the early to mid 80s! The deck is in very solid shape, and the trucks appear to be OK too. The wheels have some mileage on them however, suggesting that they came from another board originally. It sold for $172 on 14 bids.

And finally from the 80s this month we have this Dogtown/Suicidal Skates Possessed to Skate deck from 1985. It’s in NOS condition, and in a nice black dip that allows the demonic graphics to really pop. Most of the scuffs etc. are on the top of the deck so it would display as true NOS. It’s a deck that has attained mythical status really, and values just keep jumping up and up. This one sold for $3,000.

90s-present day

First up in the 90s section this month we have this Real Salman Agah “Blinders” slick from 1992. I really like the artistic effect on the graphic; it looks like oil paint on wood. Being a slick and from a short run (as most decks were back then), finding a NOS one is a rare thing. It sold for $374 on 30 bids.

Here we have an Alien Workshop “Visitor” team deck from 1991. It’s NOS, never gripped or setup. It’s typical early AWS, what with the alien graphic and all. It’s simple but effective, and a lot must remember it with fondness because it sold for $586 on 20 bids.

Here’s a Neighborhood Skates Armando Barajas “Gangster” from 1993. Now I don’t know anything about the company or the skater, but Larry Balma is selling this, so I assume that there was a Tracker connection somewhere. The auction also includes the original pen and ink deck art, so that’s a nice touch. It sold for $266 on 45 bids.

Now I had to do a double take on this one! It’s a VERY rare Alva Fred Smith “punk size”, but it’s a redo of the earlier, more well know graphic. This deck came out in 1991, right before Alva became New School. Just look at the trippy Alva logo! It looks like they were trying to distance themselves from their classic lineage and morph into something new! The graphic has been resized, enlarged and put on a football shaped deck. It actually looks great here. The orange stain is awesome, and the main graphic really pops. It comes complete with Thunders and Alva Speed Skins. Two of the big Alva collectors were on vacation and missed this one, so it sold for only $300.

Here we have a very rare Hook-Ups team deck. It’s the “Devil Hunter” from 1996. It was a deck that was mentioned in a cease and desist letter so most were taken back and destroyed before they even got to the skateshops, but this one survived, or so the story goes. It’s NOS, never set up or gripped. This one sold for $305.

Here’s a Blind Jason Lee “Grinch” from 1990. It’s in “perfect” condition, and looks great on the dark grey stain. The greens and reds really pop! Didn’t see this one? I’m not surprised as it only lasted 13 minutes, selling with a Buy It Now for $2,000. Andy Jenkins, the original artist, sold it.

And here’s another Blind Jason Lee, this being the “Cat in the Hat” graphic. Again, this is being sold by the artist himself, and is in excellent /mint condition. It’s another rad colorway, and he must have learned his lesson from the Grinch deck to not undervalue a BIN, because this auction ran all 7 days and eventually sold for $2,275.

Here’s a G&S Kris Markovich “Fried” deck from 1990. It is as near mint as can be, and is from that interesting late 1990 period when decks were still big, but shapes were changing (kick nose, double drilled) and graphics getting simpler. It sold for $500.

And here’s another deck being sold by Andy Jenkins, and you know that he only has good ones! It’s a 101 Natas Kaupas “Patriot Monster” from 1992. It’s NOS but does have some storage scratches. Still, when do you ever see one of these come up that’s even close to NOS? The deck sold for $2,026 on 17 bids.

And the big sellers from the collection of Andy Jenkins just keep on coming! This one is a mint in shrink 101 Gabriel Rodriguez “Grenade and Bone” from 1994. It looks like a typical art installation from a college student or something, supposed to be profound but actually blindingly obvious! But let’s all go on letting the hipsters think that they’re super deep! Anyway, we have another big seller from AJ, this one going for $1,635.

Now here we have a Chet Thomas deck from 1993ish, and it comes complete with Ventures and tiny Union Rebel wheels. Apart from that I don’t know much about this deck. I don’t even know the company because the seller didn’t show the top and doesn’t say. I’m guessing Public but I could be wrong. It’s a fun graphic and the deck is in fair used shape. Anybody know anything more? It sold for $200.

Finally here’s a Vision “Double Vision” team deck, probably from around 1991. It’s their take on the Mike V Circus shape, with exactly the same nose and tail: it is completely symmetrical. Even the graphic can go either way. Depending on your viewpoint it’s either a cleaver attempt to go in a new direction, or a lame late cash in on a technological breakthrough that other more forward thinking companies had started. It’s been gripped but is in very good condition and it sold for $350.

Assorted Crap

So first up in the miscellaneous section this month we have this set of Blackhart wheels. They are used but in decent shape. The seller does an amazing job selling these up as the rarest wheels ever made and that you may never see another set, yadda yadda! They come up from time to time, and sometimes in better shape than this! But they are still a nice find, and they sold for $350.

And talking of vintage 70s wheels, we have this NOS set of Dogtown Rock n’ Rollers! Coming at ya all the way from 1979 we have this set of 2 lavender and 2 green Dogtown single conical wheels! These things are awesome, and would look great on any vintage complete. Despite the different colors they deserve to remain together, and they sold for $394.

We all knew somebody that bought a pair of these Life’s a Beach skull shorts right? This pattern was everywhere in 1987: shoes, shorts, fanny packs! These are unworn and a size medium. The orange and black is nice, but they do look a little short don’t they? Nut-huggers! They sold for $720, so yeah, dig through your closet and look for yours! But tell me, what does somebody do with an old, tiny pair of $700 shorts? Is somebody out there recreating an old skateshop? Or are these framed in glass now, on somebody’s wall? Enquiring minds want to know…

So how much is the first issue of Thrasher going for these days? Why it’s going for $355. All original and in good condition.

So here we have our obligatory overpriced reissue auction of the month. This is the Santa Cruz Corey O’Brien “Reaper” reissue from a few years back. At first it only came in the white dip, but after a few months they did it in some other colorways too. This is the “white” one, but like all of the SC white dip reissues, it has yellowed alarmingly for some reason. They all do this. SC, get your shit together please! But despite the fact that it is a common reissue of a pretty common and easy to find original deck, and despite the fact that it looks like it’s been living in the house of a chain smoker, it still sold for $228. What’s that saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted”? Yup.

Seeya next month.

-Neil