eBay Watch: November/December 2005

Lots of decks this period, and I mean a shitload. Prices were weird though. All over the map. Maybe it’s because of Christmas or something, but decks that should go high weren’t, while other ordinary decks were going huge.

Santa Cruz/SMA

First up we have this great looking Duane Peters “stripes”. I’ve seen this deck in black and green, but never in yellow and black. A real rarity. $400, even beaten up like this.

The Grosso “Alice”. Once it was one of the holy grails of collectors. Now not so much. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe all of the heavy-duty collectors own them now? I’m not sure. Still a rare deck though. This one went for $795, even though the deck is not mint.

A Jason Jessee original Neptune shark tail. Nice condition, huge fucking trucks (215s?), cell blocks and Bullets. A real great looking rider from the 80s. A bargain at $460. I bet that thing weighs a ton.

This Jeff Kendall snake has really gone up in price. As recently as late 2004 you could get this at the online old school shops for under $100. This one went for $412. If you look carefully you can see his name inside the snake.

The Natas kitten. This one is the “blacktop” version. Recently “reissued” on Natas own Designarium label. It hasn’t hurt the price of the original though. $560.

Ooooh. The Natas “satan” graphic. Yes I know it’s not a SC deck, but we’re talking about Natas, so I’m putting it here. Sue me. A couple of years ago these decks were rare as hen’s teeth. There’s been a bunch in the last 18 months though, and although this one went for a still hefty $1,713, it doesn’t touch the $4k plus it was fetching then.

Hahaha. Maybe the worst graphic issued by SC in the 80s: the Keith Meek “Slasher”. It looks like a bad Nash rip-off. Obviously rare and sought after though, because this one went for $473. I guess the joke’s on me. (Come on, if take away the waves and the words, the slasher guy is cool… or maybe not k-ed.)

The Julien Stranger syringe-plane. Again, you could get it at the online stores just 18 months ago for around $75. This one just went for $400. Getting rarer all the time

Here’s one I don’t show every month: the Jaya Bonderov sunbathers from 1992. $543. Censored by ebay. Did somebody pay all that money just to see some boobies? I hope not, but it looks kind of average to me.

Have you wondered how much the recent SC reissues are worth? Are they worth anything? That depends on the graphic/Pro. Anything Jason Jessee goes for big $. How big? This one just went for $288. Insane? Maybe. These first ones were screened and were very limited, so it does make sense.

This Jessee ‘Guadalupe” reissue went for $132.

And this Natas reissue went for $192. This was right after it first came out, and it was still in short supply. Note to everybody: wait a week. This deck isn’t that limited, and the shape was a big disappointment. It didn’t sell like they hoped it would, and you can pick it up for $70 at most online stores now. Ouch.

Powell-Peralta

A very popular deck with late 80s/early 90s Powell freaks. This purple stained Barbee hydrant went for $300. Nice looking deck. Oldschoolskates.com actually just got a bunch of them in and were selling them for $275. They sold out within days. I asked Ozzie where he got them from, but wouldn’t tell me, saying more were in the pipeline. Wait and see

The next two decks show what difference the colorway can make. First up is this white, Hawk skull pig. Rare but ugly. $899 .

Here it is again in a far nicer blue dip. $1575. Note the fantastic boxed wheelwells. I’m not sure if the sig adds or decreases the value. That’s a great source of debate.

Now this is a deck that was largely ignored up until late 2005, then a whole glut went on ebay, and now it is a very hot deck. It’s the Mike McGill aquarium, his last model for Powell. $380. Personally I think it’s butt-ugly, like a Madrid or something.

A Mullen mint chess-board, in the best colorway. What else needs to be said? $710.

And keeping with the theme of Powell freestylers, here’s the Per Welinder street deck. This one’s a steady performer, always going for between $250 and $300. This one fetched $285.

This one is a fucking beaut. A Ray Bones Rodriguez in awesome shape, complete with Trackers and copers, a Tracker lapper, rails, and nose and tail guards. Yes this one rates high on the dork factor because of all the plastic, but damnit, that’s a beautiful board, and all of the other stuff just adds to it IMHO. You could fully see this setup being used at Winchester park in 1980. Brilliant. $1025 seems like a major steal.

A mint red ripper in the mid 80s shape. Some love it, but to me it’s a yawn. $510. (Better than the plain old pig shape that the first one was.. k.ed)

A red mint Vallely . At least I think it’s mint. I think those are reflections from the shrink. What more needs to be said, other than like I said last month, Powell did a shit job with the Vallely reissue. $1030. You can cross me off the Xmas card list now Mr. Powell.

Vision/Schmitt Stix

Why don’t I feature Vision decks more? Because outside of the two G’s (Gator and Gonz), they aren’t that collectible. Seriously, the market for them isn’t that big. And how dull would it be to see just those decks every month? That being said, here’s a Gonz. Interesting colorway, nice condition. $405.

And here’s a deck I’d never seen before, outside of a Vision ad. This deck never made it to full production I believe: the Vision Beastie Boys “Licensed to Ill” deck. This one looks like a very early test model, with blackline only, no screens applied. It doesn’t much matter though, collectors love that shit. How much so? $1009.

And here’s a Schmitt Stix John Lucero. Not mint but great condition. $480.

Assorted

An H-Street Eddie Elguera. Simple, plain and $307.

A Neil Blender “faces” deck. Mint and awesome. $445.

And if you thought that the Billy Ruff wizard graphic from last month was lame, this might beat even that. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Billy Ruff Chalice! Take it away! It’s burning my eyes! $285.

Another very popular deck: the H-Street Hensley kingsize “horn”. The H-Street spankers love this shit. Me? Not so much. $500

Didn’t I once say that I wouldn’t give you $10 for this deck? That still holds, but I must be missing something. This undrilled Kryptonics K-Foam went for an extremely large $1291. To each their own I guess.

A World Industries Jeremy Klein ‘Mario Brothers” deck. Again, very popular with the early 90s kids. (I call them kids because they are younger than me and started skating in the early 90s. They are probably grizzled thirty-somethings now though. Anyone is a kid to me who isn’t old enough to remember a time when the ollie wasn’t the preeminent trick). $510.

A crappy Plan B Rodney Mullen slick deck. More boobies and more stupid prices. $800? For that? Uggh. Fookin crap.

I like this deck for some reason. Maybe because it sold at Christmas. A Plan B Mike Carroll from 1993-ish. $398

And yet more boobies. This is the World Industries Randy Colvin “nude” deck, or “censorship is weak as fuck”. Came in a black plastic bag. An obvious shocker, but what was the point? Most skateboards are made to sell to kids in middle America. No, their parents don’t want them riding this. Common sense, not censorship. $449. (Common sense? No. Censorship? No. marketing? Yes! -k.ed )

Here’s another one of those mint decks from 2nd level pros. An Alva Eddie Reategui monkey. These Alva decks are actually awesome. Which other company was giving its artists so much free reign with colors, fades, etc? Some of the Alvas from this period are breathtaking in person, and almost no two are alike. Anyway, this deck went for $109, and some go even cheaper. Pick one up, you won’t be unhappy with it.

A Sims Hosoi complete. Dull as dishwater to these jaded eyes. And BTW, why the Japanese flag? Christian is not Japanese. Oh well. $480.

And here’s another one for the deck geeks. It’s a Sims P-Tex composite deck, supposedly one of the first composite decks ever made. Hmm. Means nothing to me, but some scholar of arcane deck history paid $1027 for it. I guess for some it’s not all about the pretty pictures.

Remember the Madrid Mike Smith gorilla? Unfortunately I do. Not in bad shape, but still pretty crappy. Nice blue bird on this bad boy. Thing is, the graphic is so busy that you almost miss the bird! $300. (I never got these monkey graphics. I always thought they looked kind of crappy. Mike Smith’s brought back Liberty though, the old ad archive is pretty funny. He’s got a good sense of humor. – k.ed)

This one’s for you Swiv: the Uncle Wiggley “argyle”, aka “the lead sled”. This thing once got run over by a car, but didn’t break, so these epoxy/glass decks truly were very strong. Also very heavy. $272.

This an H-Street Chad Vogt slick from 1993. I know nothing about this deck or this skater, save from the fact that he had a big crush on Madonna, and that his decks must be rare, because this one fetched $1525. Say what!!!! Fuck me. (Ha! He’s got a model out on Portland’s M&M Skateboards. Two, actually -k.ed)

Here’s one I’m more familiar with, and it’s a beauty. The first Tracker Dan Wilkes model. Mint and superb. $270.

Finally this month we have a rarity. Somebody packaged 4 very desirable Santa Cruz decks into one auction. All of these decks could have done very well on their own, and packaged together they add up to a fucking great xmas present for somebody: the centerpiece of a collection. Here they are.

First is a Salba voodoo. Great colorway. Not mint but pretty effing close:

Then we have a Salba Tiger, one of the hottest decks of the last 12 months:

Then a Jeff Kendall snake, like we just saw above:

Finally there was a Roskopp V, mint and very desirable.

This lot of 4 decks sold for $2,275, which may be about right. Hold up, let me figure this out. Voodoos in that condition I that color? Let’s say $850. A Salba tiger? $700. Kendall snake? $400. Roskopp V? $400. So that works out to be around $2,350. I’ve had people ask me before if they should sell collections complete or as singles. This shows that there isn’t much difference, if the decks are in good condition and highly sought after. Nice.

-Neil