eBay Watch: September 2007

As you can see, this is a double-monther. I was on vacation visiting my family in England in September, so I got totally behind on my August report. Consequently I decided to combine the best of August and September so you at least get to see the August stuff. I’m also introducing a new feature this month: it’s the “Board of the Month”, where I pick my favorite board from the months selection. Look for the bold type.

60s/70s.

First up, we have this Dogtown Bigfoot. It is in great condition, complete with Independent trucks and Kryptonics wheels. The Indys are early, stage I or stage IIs. Personally I would have removed the butt-ugly tailskids, but that’s just me. They look like big black sponges back there. The auction ended at $1,799.

Now this, this reeks of 70s awesomeness. It’s a 70s Lightning Bolt slalom fiberglass skateboard complete. The wheels are called Black Lightning, made by the same company that made the deck. Same for the trucks: they even have lightning bolts on them! It’s a sweet, sweet ride. $550.

Here’s a Lama-Flex Doug Haut complete, along with a helmet with the lama-flex decal on it. The board is in great condition, with just a touch of wear on the tail. Apparently it has C5000 wheels and Continental trucks (?). I’ve never heard of Lamaflex or Continental, but it’s still a nice package. $350.

First-generation Kryptonics wheels. Notice how they say “Kryptonics Wheels” in raised type on the outside of the wheel. They are 70mm with matching red AZF German bearings. Very rare in this minty condition. $409.

There’s nothing too special about this complete or the price it went for, but Makaha is one of the oldest skate companies, so here it is. It’s from the 60s with clay wheels, and is in great condition. Not much else to say really. A piece of skate history. $285.

Haven’t we seen this one before? The stickers look very familiar, but the seller says it was his board, so I must be imagining things. It’s a G&S Doug “Pineapple” Saladino complete with Indy trucks and Yoyo wheels. It’s in well-used condition, but has some interesting features. They are Indy trucks, but they have Tracker bushings in them and the wheels are 2 white, 2 blue. It has clear grip tape on top with stickers underneath. He has Tracker and Independent stickers all over it. The auction ended at $387.

Maybe somebody can write in and tell me why this board went for so much? It’s a generic looking 1970s Plastic Fantastic skateboard in my opinion, but most boards like that go for $50. Plastic Fantastic made surfboards I believe, but that’s all I know. Anyway, the auction ended at $575, which is enormous for a board like this.

Yes, it’s s Santa Cruz Salba Bevel. Credited with having the deepest concave of any board at the time, the Salba bevel quickly passed into legend status. Very few ever come up, but this one apparently isn’t a production model. The seller used to “build their decks” whatever that means, and this was a sample to proof the shape. Still, it is super-rare. The auction ended at $1,858.

Here’s a Dogtown Shogo Kubo airbeam deck from the late 70s. This has had a lot of work done to it: the bottom 3 plys are cracked and have been reglued, the top has had the paint touched up and the clear grip reapplied, and the bottom has been repainted. I thought this would have affected the price more, but the auction still ended at $1,200.

And here’s another Dogtown of similar vintage. It’s a Dogtown Triplane, Jim Muir design in great condition. The auction ended at $1,200, exactly the same as the Shogo above. Strange that.

80s

Starting off with a bang here! It’s a Neil Blender I’ve never seen before, and I actually don’t think it was ever officially released. It has the “rocking dog” character that would feature in another later graphic, and a picture of a face, probably Neil’s. The seller said he got the deck from a neighbor in 1985 that was a pro and he got the deck from Neil. So it’s probably a one off where Neil was testing the shape or something. Even though it’s snapped, it still warranted a winning bid of $500.

Speaking of Neil Blender, here’s a really clean “snake and lattice” from 1984. These decks come up very rarely, and never in this type of condition. Very, very nice. The buyer got it with a Buy It Now of $750. The seller is probably kicking himself. I think he could have got far more.

Here’s a Santa Cruz “collage” deck from around 1987. It has mini graphics from most every Santa Cruz deck and wheel at the time, all screened beautifully. It is stunning large. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. The shape looks like a Grabke exploding clocks, what with the humps by the back trucks. Minty condition too. The graphics really pop off the natural wood. $650.

I never rated this deck at all. It’s the Zorlac “devil fish”, with the original crap Satan graphic. The deck was big and ugly, just like the graphic, with the slightest hammerhead shape. This colorway doesn’t help either. Hideous, and I wouldn’t have featured it, but it went for $998. Wow.

This one is the complete opposite of the gimmick deck above. It has lean lines, with a classic and classy graphic in a great colorway. It’s the Santa Cruz Eric Dressen “celtic roses” in the minimalist blue and gold ink. It also came in a 4-color screen on the natural wood, which is just as sweet. A classic, and one of Dressen’s best graphics. $600 was the BIN price.

Here’s a Vision Gator, probably from 1984ish. It’s early because of the wheel wells back and front. Later they switched to just front wheel wells, and later they dropped them altogether. That pushed this deck higher than most Gators you see: $510. Nice colorway too. It’s still a classic graphic, despite the countless rip-offs we’ve seen of it over the years.

I don’t think I’ve ever featured this one before. It’s the Santa Cruz Claus Grabke “holding back time” model. Mint in shrink in a nice blue wood stain. Not as popular as the exploding clocks, though it’s still a nice graphic. Up until about a year ago this deck could be bought at any one of the online old school shops for less than a hundred dollars. This one went for $352.

Here we have a completely generic Hawk screaming skull in blue. It’s a common deck, that wouldn’t have brought much more than $300 about a year ago. This one went for $1,325. It’s fucking insane people. Just stop it. And this one isn’t an aberration either. I could have featured others too, all that went for over a grand.

Here we have Christian Hosoi’s first model, his Sims “rising sun” pig on Sims with front and rear wheel wells. He was so scrawny when this beast came out that I’m surprised that he could control it! It’s massive! Used and scuffed, but still, $600 isn’t bad.

So after Christian left Sims to skate for Alva, Sims kept the same graphic but dropped Hosoi’s name and made it the generic “kamikaze” deck. The interesting thing is that this deck went for $686, $86 more than the Hosoi! Of course, it is minty fresh, still in shrink, but hey.

I featured another Zorlac Craig Johnson last time, but I like this one even more. This one has the blunt nose, meaning it was either a later run, or was the “street” mini version perhaps. I love the yellow dip with the red and green graphics. A piece of Zorlac at their awesome best. $525.

Deck of the month for August/September!

I absolutely love everything about this complete. It’s a Sims Lester Kasai epoxy from around 1984. It is stunning. The graphics literally scream off of the lime green deck. Seriously, look at the blow-up (click the image). It is amazing. The trucks are mint Tracker Ex-tracks, and the wheels are Kryptonics C-65s. The white plastic doesn’t really detract at all. I would remove the Vision sticker, but that’s just me. It still has its original factory grip on top. Overall, this is one beautiful hunk of 1980s skateboard history. The buyer got a steal at $690.

I’ve never seen this deck in this colorway before. It’s the Madrid John Lucero jester from 1983. Every other one I’ve seen has been in the lime green. When they reissued it a few years ago they did a few in gold, but I didn’t know that the original was in gold too. Personally I think this one is dark and grim in this color. It’s much more effective in the green. $560.

So if a Hawk goes for over $1300, how much does a similar period McGill skull and snake go for? Well, this grey stain model went for $835, which seems like an awful lot to me. Some may love it; I think it’s a yawner. ‘Stunning” says the seller. “Boring” say I.

Here we have 2 Santa Cruz Corey O’Brien “reapers”. One in a green stain, and one in a striking electric blue dip. The green one went for $839, and the blue for a laaaarge $1,358. I’ve never seen a reaper go for so much, but this one is extraordinary. It just shows what difference a color can do to the value of a deck. The blue one was bought by our old friend frgonzales.

Yup, it’s a Dogtown “Possessed to Skate” deck. Used but still very rare. But that’s not the strangest thing. Did you notice the trucks and wheels???? They were taken straight off of some 1960s deck I think. Apparently the wheels are Chicago, and no word on the make of the trucks, but they are as narrow as narrow can be. This couldn’t have been ridden like this, surely? What an oddity. If this only could talk, what would it say? Probably something like “what kind of dumbass set me up like this?!! Slap some Indys and some bullets on me and let’s thrash!” $950.

Here is a Santa Cruz Salba voodoo in a natural wood stain. Very, very nice. Classic. Has the recent reissue hurt the value? Has it heck. $1,375.

And here’s another Santa Cruz classic from the same period. A Jason Jessee “Neptune”. It’s not the rarer sharktail, but it still went for $895. It’s also from Australia, so add about $40 for shipping. Of course, the reissue is almost fetching this price, so I don’t know what to make of the selling price here.

This one speaks for itself. It’s a Powell Peralta Skull and Sword from around 1983, not 1978 as the seller states in the auction. It’s after Ray Rodriguez left Powell, so his name is no longer on it, just the generic Powell Peralta name. It’s in beautiful condition, and the lime green is stunning. It features the trademark Powell boxed wheel wells. It’s a beautiful deck, and it fetched a beautiful $2,600.

I’ve always hated this graphic. It’s the Santa Cruz Keith Meek “slasher”. Rare in this colorway though: you normally see it in white. It’s complete with generic looking trucks with odd strapped copers, and some kind of conical wheels. It’s an odd looking complete, but still unusual. $488.

This is a very nice Sims Kevin Staab mid-size pirate model. It looks awesome in the white dip that makes the graphics scream. It has some scuffing, and had grip tape at one point. Still, it’s a very nice board. $600 seems like a fair price.

Here’s a Santa Cruz Salba tiger on a vivid pink/purple stain. This is one sweet deck in this colorway. Actually it’s sweet in any colorway. The best I’ve ever seen is the white dip, but I digress. $870.

Now this board really speaks to the selling power of Danny Way and H-Street. Personally I think this graphic is horrendous, and I never liked the H-Street team, but that’s just me. This is Danny Way’s 2nd model for H-Street, and is in great condition and was signed by a young Danny Way at the Hokus Pokus premiere in Dayton Ohio, probably at the Surf Ohio store. Now that is history I can appreciate. $2,445. Who won it? frgonzales. Did you need to ask?

Yes it’s a Zorlac John Gibson in great condition, but it’s a mini again. Are we ever going to see a full-size? Maybe not. According to the seller the mini is rarer, but all that ever comes up on eBay are minis, never full-size. It has some minor wear, and was set up and ridden at one point, supposedly by Dan Wilkes, before he became a pro for Tracker. Anyway, it went for $450.

90s-today

Here’s a Powell Caballero from 1991. I like this graphic a lot. It’s very personal for Cab obviously, featuring his signature dragon, playing a bass just like Cab. Check the double-drilled nose and the shape verging on a popsicle. $851.

Ooh, a World Industries Randy Colvin velvet black light deck. And it’s mint! I guess the glue was screened on and then the velvety flock was sprinkled on by hand. You don’t see originality like this on decks these days, more’s the pity. $1,425. That’s a big price, but I think this deck deserves it.

This is a World Industries Jeremy Klein “candy bar” complete from 1991. It has Indys and Spitfire wheels. It even has rails, a tailskid and nose guard, which were very unusual by the time this deck came out. This kid probably got laughed out of the schoolyard. Still, it’s a funny graphic. If you can’t make it out, it’s a huge candy bar chasing the healthy vegetables away. $288.

Here’s a Blind Jason Lee “silly animals” from 1991. As with most things Jason Lee it went for over a thou: this one ended at $1,058.

Shit, I remember when this Natas went on eBay for under a hundred dollars. Those days are long gone obviously because this one went for $615. Yes it’s a Natas, but this one is a seriously average graphic. Things are getting out of hand.

This deck is so rare it isn’t on AOS. It’s a Plan B Sean Sheffey. I’m sure Disney sued them because of the Jungle Book graphics, and maybe that’s what makes it so rare. How rare? $1,934 worth.

Here is the SMA Julien Stranger “flying high” deck from 1990. It’s mint, and very collectible. Julien was one of the originators of streetstyle as we know it today, along with Natas and the Gonz. Street ollies, handrails and wall-rides. Apparently these graphics got him thrown out of his house. $550.

And how about this set! It’s a 5-deck set from NY based skate company Supreme. It’s the Last Supper if you didn’t get that, and very limited obviously. Probably just a few years old? There’s very little on this company, but the auction ended at $1,026, which is a nice score.

Reissues and Other Stuff

Remember Cutthroat Skateboards? They put out a couple of full color, fully screened pirate based decks a couple of years back. Nice graphics on old school shapes: they looked like they would become big. But I’m guessing that they blew their wad, because last month they auctioned off their trademark, their last 60 decks, artwork, website, t-shirts and assorted other inventory. Everything. Basically it’s your easy in to the skateboard business. You could have owned it for $2000.

Santa Cruz reissues are going for ridiculous prices. Even the less desirable ones. This Claus Grabke exploding clocks went for $350, and ended early with a BIN. It probably would have gone higher. I have 2 of these. One I skated, sweet shape, and the other is hanging. Nice.

While this Jason Jessee “Neptune” went for $511. frgonzales.

I normally hate everything Rob Roskopp, but I actually like this green eye reissue. They did the colorway right on this one. $350 BIN to frgonzales.

And then we have two different Jeff Kendall reissues. First is the Atom Man on a fiery red dip: $339. Then we have the graffiti deck on yellow. $343. Both decks were won by frgonzales.

Yup, it’s the Hosoi “monk” reproduction from 2004. Only 14 were made. Yes, it’s an awesome graphic. Truly wonderful. $1,890 might seem like a lot for a reproduction, but there are only 14 of them in the world.

Here’s the Designarium Natas “panther” from a year or so ago. Signed by Natas. For a while these where everywhere for $75 or less. I guess no longer! This one went for $355 and there were 15 bids, so I assume it will only go higher.

Finally this month we have these hideous Vans high-tops from the 80s. One side is a checkerboard print; the other is a nasty Hawaiian print. They are trimmed in red and yellow and have a balloon print along the sides of the soles. Probably custom made and one of a kind. No doubt. Fugly, but beautiful to somebody to the tune of $870. Wow.