Thanks for all of the comments you guys are leaving on the Baywatch thingies. It’s great to know that people are even looking at these ramblings, let alone enjoying them! I’m wondering though, what do you think of the length of them? Too long? Not enough? Let me know your thoughts. Also, do you want other skate related stuff: t-shirts, shoes etc., or do you want me to stick with decks? I only do other stuff if the price seems outrageous, but I could start trawling for other stuff too.
Again, for those interested, this column is fueled by Typhoo Tea, the sounds of the Au-Pairs, and is 100% created on a 20” G5 iMac at 6.30 am on a Saturday morning. I can’t sleep in worth a damn.
60s/70s.
Nice. A pink Dogtown Bob Biniak complete. The deck doesn’t look to have a mark on it, which is odd because the trucks (Lazers I think?) are ground to hell, and the green Kryps have a lot of wear too. It looks to me like the trucks and wheels were taken off another board and slapped on this one. Note how the riser pads don’t fit the funky shaped Lazer trucks. And that skid plate is out of control. $1,375.
How about some VINTAGE Gullwing HPG IVs in the original gold color? Split-axle design action. They were ahead of their time, coming out in 76/77. $235.
And here’s one of those plain jane 70s decks that always go big. A Kryptonics team deck from around 1978. It’s made from some kind of crazy composite material I believe. Not wood. Would you believe $1,025! Yowza.
And staying with the Kryptonics decks, here’s the Micke Alba model, again from around 1978. It’s in nice condition, but if you look closely it was drilled for tail and nose guards. Rail holes too I think. Still, it looks great. The Kryptonics stickers are not part of the original design, they were added later. $754. And a plea to auctioneers: please stop posting pics of your decks diagonally like this! It makes posting them here a real pain! Yes I could rotate in Photoshop and clone the wall to fill in the corners, but I don’t have all day to do this! Just take a straight picture damnit!!!
Decks are nice, but here’s what Kryptonics was known for. A set of mint 70mm green Kryps. Sweeet! $327
Here’s an interesting Sims complete. The deck is unusual: I’ve never seen another like it. Most Sims decks are wood: this one looks to be some kind of composite or fiberglass. But I’m most stoked on the trucks and wheels. The trucks are ACS 430s from around 1977 in the rare gold finish. Note that the kingpin has a slotted screw head instead of a bolt. The wheels are unknown, but I’m guessing some kind of Sims competition wheel. I love the translucent red color, and the fact that the wheels are wider than the trucks! A real piece of skate history. $408.
Here’s a more traditional Sims complete. The wheel wells are intense: note the 2 colored inlay. I think the wheels are Road Riders? Great condition. Not much more to say. Classic. $750.
Ever month you see a Z-Flex or two like this go off. It would seem that everyone who wanted one would have one by now, but I guess not. It’s blue and undrilled. That’s about as much as I can say. And oh yeah, $620.
And here’s a Z-Woody Jay Adams model. Again, mint and undrilled. A similar deck in better condition went off last month for $1200, but this one only fetched $805. Condition is everything. Or maybe the photo was just better. Yes, it makes a difference.
80’s
Mark and Barry Abrook were brothers out of England. The limey version of the Godoys if you will. They skated for Zorlac for a long time, putting out 3 decks for that company. This is the Pushead penned specter model, their 3rd and final for Zorlac. Popular with Zorlac collectors, English skaters and Pushead fans. $465.
Here’s an airbrushed Alva from 84/85. All of the colors apart from the black were airbrushed, making every one a one-of-a-kind. You couldn’t give them away at the time, but now they are worth a lot. How much? $515 for this one. It’s signed which I guess adds to the value.
The Neil Blender “faces” model. All Blender decks are really starting to jump in value, and this is no exception. G&S has recently reissued some models, although why they would reissue a Billy Ruff instead of a Blender is beyond me. $517.
Here’s kind of a dull natural wood Cab 2nd model. It’s a pig in really nice condition, and the Cab signature is a nice touch. However, it doesn’t do much for me. At all. $717.
Ooooh. The Cab dragon and bats. In a pink so vivid it burns your retinas! Pristine condition. Sweet, sweet deck. A highly prized collectors item. $1,009, despite the fact that Powell has reissued this deck in 2 different colorways: black and baby blue.
A classic Santa Cruz Duane Peters from 1985. Jim Phillips is the artist, and that number bottom right reads 29”, so I guess it’s 29” long. Minty. $438.
Now here’s a beauty. The Jeff Grosso “demon” from 1987. This is a great colorway for this deck. SC reissued it in 2003, doing a pretty good job, and then Black label reissued the reissue, doing a terrible job with the artwork. It’s like they got the artwork from a scan of a scan. Anyway, this original went for $543.
And here are 2 versions of the Santa Cruz Jeff Grosso toybox from 1987. A VERY popular deck with Grosso collectors. It’s like money in the bank, and the right colorway can mean even more. The aqua one went for $650, but the bright blue one below it fetched a huge $1,026. Of course, the aqua one might well have gone for more, but the picture was so muddy and crappy it was tough to tell the true color. So sellers, get a quality pic that does the deck justice. It could mean up to $500 more. Unless you’re trying to hide something of course!!
Here’s one of these Hawk completes that goes for ridiculous money from know nothing buyers. Yes, it’s a really nice complete. The deck is mint, and the Trackers and yellow Powell cubics really add to it. But $535? The deck would go for no more than $270. The trucks? Probably 70ish, and the wheels can be gotten in the $50 range. So I’m saying you could put this complete together yourself for $400 tops. It is striking though. Maybe I’m being overly critical.
Now the buyer on this one got a real steal. The Hawk birdclaw is really coming on as Hawk’s most desirable graphic. This one in a dark purple/black went for $260, which isn’t a complete bargain, but compared to what one just went for a few days ago (over a thousand dollars) is an unbelievable deal. The seller is probably kicking himself right about now.
And this I don’t get. Yes, the silver and pink is a rare colorway for the chicken skull, but let’s face it, it’s uglier than shit. $405? Maybe it matched some “art collectors” décor. Fruity.
This is really naff. Christian had some bad graphics in his time, but this launch ramp air on a bad rising sun background might take the cake. It looks like it was designed by a 10 year old for show and tell. A couple of years ago all of the online old school shops had this in stock for $100 or less, but no more. The power of Christ has pushed it up to $405.
Two Jason Jessee “sungods”. Which colorway do you prefer? I like the red background better, but they are both striking. And for once the buyers agreed. The top one went for $570, and the bottom one went for $610. So let’s fix that as the going rate for mint Sungods: $600.
And talking of doubles, here are 2 (3 actually, I’ll explain) Lance Mountain future primitive decks. The top one is in an ugly red, with a bad flash glare right in the money part of the graphic. That’s a shame, but it went for $666, so it’s not all bad news. Now the bottom one is a far better photo, and the graphic looks better on the pink anyway. $700. But wait, there’s more. The buyer must have sold it right on, or another seller nabbed exactly the same image, because a deck using that image was auctioned again, this time fetching a large $931. Quite a variance eh??
It seemed to me that a seminal, early 80s graphic like the Lester splat would go for big cash. Especially one in good condition, with wheel wells, and with white paint that allows the Lester graphic in neon green and blue to really scream out! But I guess I was wrong. Too many people must remember the Lester Kasai break dancing fiasco in the first Vision video. $152. Yup, that’s it.
Metallica. What a fucking joke. In their documentary “Monster” they out “Spinal Tap” Spinal Tap. And the funny and sad thing is, they don’t even recognize it! A counselor? For a fucking rock band? Fuck right off. And they go hunting for polar bears in the arctic? Christ. Anyhow. Zorlac+Pushead+Metallica+skulls =big cash. Especially mint. $585. I wonder if it goes to 11?
The Mullen chess board from 1983. Simple and classic, especially on white. A thing of beauty. $946.
A Natas “bulldog” panther on green. Yawn. Why am I even showing another one of these? $305. The stickers were cleverly removed from the tail. Good move. That probably added another $100.
Now he’s a fucking beauty, and one I’ve never seen before. It’s the Airbourne Peanut Brown. Actually, he had 2 decks with similar “tribal” graphics on Airbourne. It just shows that you don’t have to be a well known skater for your deck to be worth big cash. It just takes a good graphic and scarce numbers. $700.
I expected this Jeff Phillips “tie-dye” to go for more. The deck is in great shape, and he’s a legend. $200 seems like a real bargain. The stickers on the tail would come off real easily, leaving somebody with a very nice hanger.
As if this graphic wasn’t ugly enough on a deck. You could spend $266 and get it even larger on a shirt. Insane. Some people shouldn’t be allowed access to cash.
Here’s another Roskopp item, but at least this one makes sense. It’s a Roskopp first graphic. Not mint, but in OK condition. The graphics are intact, and that’s what counts. The rails and the tail wear add to the vintage actually. The stickers confuse me, and they always did. You’re riding a Santa Cruz deck. So why put 3 different Powell stickers on your deck? If you like Powell-Peralta so much, ride one of their decks! The green arm coming out of the pink target looks good. At least as good as this one could look. $416.
Here we have two different full dipped Salba tigers. The top one in purple fetched $580, while the bottom hot pink went for $650. The graphic looks kind of lost on the purple one, but it explodes off of the pink one. My favorite is still the white one though. You don’t see that one too often.
I really dig the colorway on this Powell Per Welinder street deck. The blue Viking really pops off of the lime green deck. Nice. $610.
90s-today
Actually, the only 2 we have in this section this month are both from 2005/2006, and they are both reissues. Actually, a couple of the decks from the 80s section might be from 1990 (the Abrook and the Peanut Brown for example), but they FEEL like 80s decks to me, so there they stay. Anyway, people often ask me (well, not really. I’ve been asked once maybe) if reissues have any value. Well, this one proves that they do. This is the Powell reissue of the first Steve Caballero prototype graphic that came out last year. It was limited, and signed by Cab, but it wasn’t THAT limited. You could get it everywhere, and my local shop might still have one. This one went for, wait for it, $710. Fuck, I can’t believe it and I just typed it. $710. I’m checking my local shop tomorrow.
If any reissue deck should be worth that kind of money it’s this one. Right after The Firm folded and before his first deck on Flip came out, John Lucero reissued Lance Mountain’s first graphic, originally on Variflex, on a Black Label/Emergency deck. It was very limited, 100 maybe, and not for general release, just a few for friends and colleagues. Some snuck out like they always do and find their way to eBay. This one fetched $325. I guess it was a must have for any Lance Mountain collector.
See ya next month.
-Neil
