Skateboard deck collection sells for a record $800,000

[Johnnybravo300]

I grew up skateboarding and we called guys like that "posers". The only decks we ever considered hanging on our bedroom walls were the ones we BROKE. What a poser.

 

[Davers]

Hmmmmm, I still have my Mark Rogowski Gator....

D.

Ahhh, I recall that name , you get yours at 'The Junk Mans Daughter , In Little 5 Pt's' like me ?

 

[Davers]

Awesome! It's interesting skateboarding has reached a point of hyper nostalgia where pretty much anything that was popular in the 80's has been reissued in some form or another. Santa Cruz figured out awhile ago that they made some of the most iconic graphics skating has ever seen so they are reissuing everything a couple decks at a time. Everyone wants to own a piece of their childhood. Original boards from back then can go for a lot of money.

I never knew that about 'Gator' I never liked that brand for some reason , now I know why.

I do wish that I still had that Santa Cruz Deck & the Christian Hosoi 'that I never could afford'.

Funny cause I still own most other things I had from the 1980's Except Bikes as they were always stolen .

 

[Davers]

Avril Lavigne killed punk!!!
oops...wrong thread.

"All I wanted was a Pepsi Just a Pepsi!!!!!!!!"

 

[Johnnybravo300]

I never knew that about gator either. I got that deck for xmas of 85 or 86 cant remember. My dad thought it would be fun to see how fast I could go down bear creek canyon road in Colorado springs. I really thought I could make those switchbacks, turned out I couldn't.
Spent xmas day in the hospital that year and boy was my mom MAD!

 

[RustyGold]

I never knew that about gator either. I got that deck for xmas of 85 or 86 cant remember. My dad thought it would be fun to see how fast I could go down bear creek canyon road in Colorado springs. I really thought I could make those switchbacks, turned out I couldn't.
Spent xmas day in the hospital that year and boy was my mom MAD!

Been there done that..got the speed wobbles going downhill and it all quickly got out of control. I bounced off a few truck mirrors and parked cars. I tore it up that day..not in skateboard skillz..but in my skin. Ouch!

 

[Dharmacy]

You can see my old Gator deck hanging on the wall in this photo.

 

[Mother Superior]

Supreme is a stupid hipster brand for rich Manahatan kids who take selfies with their skateboards more than they ride them.
I have been skating for close to 20 years, and my hatred for Supreme still grows faster than my skills.

 

[xcopperstax]

"All I wanted was a Pepsi Just a Pepsi!!!!!!!!"

Suicidal Tendencies and Pepsi collab product available soon only at Supreme.

 

[N/A]

Full disclosure I am a skateboarder and I've skated since 1988. To me this company symbolizes the extreme greed of society. The main fact that people need to know about Supreme is that it was not started by a skateboarder and is not owned by skateboarders. Their logo is a rip off / copy / appropriation of art by Barbara Kruger who is a famous artist. They are a company that is arguably the best in the world at using skateboarding to make money. Nothing wrong with making money but they basically appropriated skateboard culture and ran with it. Skateboarders have always prided themselves on independence and doing it yourself so it's ironic that skateboarders have completely embraced the company. To me Supreme is the ultimate interloper and everything they are is a complete ruse. I have to hand it to them they have completely fooled the masses. I liken them to the pied piper and the emperors new clothes and the wolf in sheep's clothing all wrapped in one. The thing about this that is surprising is that the collection didn't break 1 million. There are many fools out there with huge bank accounts. To sum up Supreme they look you in the eye and say "I am going to rip you off and you will love me for it" Then you hand them big bucks for the privilege of it. They are true artists in BS.

Im confused?? Why is it wrong to make money? I assume you have a job to make money and if the opportunity presented itself you would surely leave whoever you work for in a split second if you could make more money doing the same job for someone else...

And I'd also bet that if you had that collection of decks you would have quickly sold it off for half that amount just to get the money. Or maybe would would have held out for the full 800k. Either way would you consider yourself evil and greedy?

My point is this, no one was misled in any way about the products and good money changed hands to make both the seller and the purchaser happy.

 

[xcopperstax]

Im confused?? Why is it wrong to make money? I assume you have a job to make money and if the opportunity presented itself you would surely leave whoever you work for in a split second if you could make more money doing the same job for someone else...

And I'd also bet that if you had that collection of decks you would have quickly sold it off for half that amount just to get the money. Or maybe would would have held out for the full 800k. Either way would you consider yourself evil and greedy?

My point is this, no one was misled in any way about the products and good money changed hands to make both the seller and the purchaser happy.

I have a job. From a purely economic perspective there is nothing wrong here. A company made something and sold it and then it was sold again. If I had the skateboards I would sell them and make a profit.

My issue is with the company Supreme. From the perspective of a subculture this company competes with real skateboard culture, and uses it to make money. It's pretty simple: If you don't skate you can't be a skater. They are pretend skateboarders. Posers, fakes. They take money that could support real skateboarders. Real skateboarders: People who ride skateboards who add to what skateboarding is as an art and culture. Without them there would be no progression, skateparks, products, creativity, magazines, videos etc. The things that make skateboarding more than just a board with wheels on it. Stores and companies are damaged by the likes of Supreme and many are going out of business. If Sony started taking millions maybe billions of dollars from metal detecting while the magazines and mom and pop metal detecting stores went out of business would it just come down to economics and capitalism or is there something more to Treasure Hunting? It depends on who you ask I suppose.

 

[Mother Superior]

Im confused?? Why is it wrong to make money? I assume you have a job to make money and if the opportunity presented itself you would surely leave whoever you work for in a split second if you could make more money doing the same job for someone else...

And I'd also bet that if you had that collection of decks you would have quickly sold it off for half that amount just to get the money. Or maybe would would have held out for the full 800k. Either way would you consider yourself evil and greedy?

My point is this, no one was misled in any way about the products and good money changed hands to make both the seller and the purchaser happy.

I think you minsunderstood.
Skateboard is an art form first, a business second.
Of course since there is an exchange of services and hard goods, there will be money involved. For a long time, 99% of the people on the industry were either skaters or people who cared about the sport.
Fast forward a little and people like Supreme come in. They are not skaters but love to look like one.
Once they have assimilated the quirks and traditions of the skateboard world, they start "a brand" that looks legit, but that isn't used/representend/endorsed by any skater.
They do so so convincingly that the outside world thinks they're the shizzle, and the brand starts taking off and eventually becomes the first thing everyone in the outside world thinks of when they see "skateboard".
The brand then sucks off all the money that used to go to skaters, money that most skaters reinvested in their brand.
Money stops getting to the actual people practicing the sport/art form.
They starve, while the nobody who hijacked their image has a flat with a view of central park.

The outrage is directed that the fact that, of aaaaaaall the amazing brands and products made since the 60's that were for skaters by skaters, the brand that actually racks up the most money when some of its vintage items are sold off is a brand that has zero to to with skateboarding. Which means that both the seller AND the buyer are horrible idiots.

 

[xcopperstax]

I think you minsunderstood.
Skateboard is an art form first, a business second.
Of course since there is an exchange of services and hard goods, there will be money involved. For a long time, 99% of the people on the industry were either skaters or people who cared about the sport.
Fast forward a little and people like Supreme come in. They are not skaters but love to look like one.
Once they have assimilated the quirks and traditions of the skateboard world, they start "a brand" that looks legit, but that isn't used/representend/endorsed by any skater.
They do so so convincingly that the outside world thinks they're the shizzle, and the brand starts taking off and eventually becomes the first thing everyone in the outside world thinks of when they see "skateboard".
The brand then sucks off all the money that used to go to skaters, money that most skaters reinvested in their brand.
Money stops getting to the actual people practicing the sport/art form.
They starve, while the nobody who hijacked their image has a flat with a view of central park.

The outrage is directed that the fact that, of aaaaaaall the amazing brands and products made since the 60's that were for skaters by skaters, the brand that actually racks up the most money when some of its vintage items are sold off is a brand that has zero to to with skateboarding. Which means that both the seller AND the buyer are horrible idiots.

I couldn't have said it better!

 

[N/A]

I think you minsunderstood.
Skateboard is an art form first, a business second.
Of course since there is an exchange of services and hard goods, there will be money involved. For a long time, 99% of the people on the industry were either skaters or people who cared about the sport.
Fast forward a little and people like Supreme come in. They are not skaters but love to look like one.
Once they have assimilated the quirks and traditions of the skateboard world, they start "a brand" that looks legit, but that isn't used/representend/endorsed by any skater.
They do so so convincingly that the outside world thinks they're the shizzle, and the brand starts taking off and eventually becomes the first thing everyone in the outside world thinks of when they see "skateboard".
The brand then sucks off all the money that used to go to skaters, money that most skaters reinvested in their brand.
Money stops getting to the actual people practicing the sport/art form.
They starve, while the nobody who hijacked their image has a flat with a view of central park.

The outrage is directed that the fact that, of aaaaaaall the amazing brands and products made since the 60's that were for skaters by skaters, the brand that actually racks up the most money when some of its vintage items are sold off is a brand that has zero to to with skateboarding. Which means that both the seller AND the buyer are horrible idiots.

Why is the seller an idiot?

 

[tokameel]

cool, they wouldn't want my 1st skateboard, made it 68, using a board and a real skate. it worked, nothing like a real skateboard but it flew down this very steep hill. then when I finally got a "real" one, wore the wheels off it the 1st summer LOL. the ones that they use today are as big as the old buicks

Boy! That brings back memories. I did the same thing in the late 1960s. We lived at the bottom of a two city block hill. And there was a intersection halfway down. Steel roller skates were all that we had back then, so it was easy to remove the metal wheels from the skates and then stick them on a board. After a few test runs (and realigning the wheels so that you wouldn’t keeping swerving into the curb) you'd be ready for the big hill.
You took your life into your own hands every time that you would go speeding down the hill because if a car was driving on that cross street, you would be seriously killed. (We didn’t have no stinking helmets back then.)
It was a rush! I will never forget the sound of the steel wheels on the asphalt.
Tom

 

[N/A]

Boy! That brings back memories. I did the same thing in the late 1960s. We lived at the bottom of a two city block hill. And there was a intersection halfway down. Steel roller skates were all that we had back then, so it was easy to remove the metal wheels from the skates and then stick them on a board. After a few test runs (and realigning the wheels so that you wouldn’t keeping swerving into the curb) you'd be ready for the big hill.
You took your life into your own hands every time that you would go speeding down the hill because if a car was driving on that cross street, you would be seriously killed. (We didn’t have no stinking helmets back then.)
It was a rush! I will never forget the sound of the steel wheels on the asphalt.
Tom

I remember my feet and legs going numb with all the vibration, ahh the good ol days!!!!

 

[ARC]

You know there was one thing that ALWAYS sucked arse while skateboarding...

That dreaded pebble / rock / stone / whatever the F it was that stopped the damn board dead... meanwhile... you DID NOT stop in the same way.

 

[Mother Superior]

Why is the seller an idiot?

Let me first specify that all of this is my opinion, and certainly not a universal truth.
I agree that in my anger "idiot" was an ill-chosen insult, since the two parties who participated in this sale are/were obviously rich people with excellent monetary skills.
If your issue was with the word "idiot", than I agree it was misused and inappropriate. Would you prefer "morons? "Despicable"?
What I wanted to do basicaly was to voice my contempt towards both parties because they both, at different times, invested money in products that monetize a subculture and drain all the survival money that normaly trickles down to it.
They basicaly ruin the fun for a lot of people and make a profit out of it.

 

[N/A]

Let me first specify that all of this is my opinion, and certainly not a universal truth.
I agree that in my anger "idiot" was an ill-chosen insult, since the two parties who participated in this sale are/were obviously rich people with excellent monetary skills.
If your issue was with the word "idiot", than I agree it was misused and inappropriate. Would you prefer "morons? "Despicable"?
What I wanted to do basicaly was to voice my contempt towards both parties because they both, at different times, invested money in products that monetize a subculture and drain all the survival money that normaly trickles down to it.
They basicaly ruin the fun for a lot of people and make a profit out of it.

LOL, so what you're saying is a few people (that know nothing about skating) got together with a great idea and made money with that idea and that is terrible because they didnt reinvest THEIR money back into the skating world by giving it to skaters.... Thats ridiculous

You better sit down for this next statement

- People start businesses to earn money -

They are under NO obligation to reinvest THEIR money in any business or person. That may not be the best idea for the long term BUT these guys realized that its a fad (think rollerskates, inline skates, unicycle, etc...) and long term investing can be a waste of money. They made the correct business decision.

For a better understanding I suggest you start your own business or at the very least read about successful small businesses

 

[Mother Superior]

LOL, so what you're saying is a few people (that know nothing about skating) got together with a great idea and made money with that idea and that is terrible because they didnt reinvest THEIR money back into the skating world by giving it to skaters.... Thats ridiculous

You better sit down for this next statement

- People start businesses to earn money -

They are under NO obligation to reinvest THEIR money in any business or person. That may not be the best idea for the long term BUT these guys realized that its a fad (think rollerskates, inline skates, unicycle, etc...) and long term investing can be a waste of money. They made the correct business decision.

For a better understanding I suggest you start your own business or at the very least read about successful small businesses

Wow that was arrogant. And presumptuous.
You obviously are not a skateboarder, and talk from a stricly business-oriented position so I see no point in arguing with you.
I didn't want to argue with anyone in fact, just wanted to share my dismay with my fellow skateboarders, who by the way seemed to mostly agree with me.
All I can say is pardon me for not liking it when someone who has nothing but money in my mind exploits and ruins somthing I loved all my life.