I’ve been collecting vintage and signed skateboard decks in an attempt to gather the full OG Tony Hawks Pro Skater lineup.
JW if anyone else is into it? I have a theory that due to the international growth of skateboarding [China x-games and Olympics] the collectors market will eventually blow up but there is currently no grading service for decks like there is for signed bats and baseballs.
(If anyone knows how to get the ball rolling with PSA to grade and encapsulate extreme sports memorabilia please let me know, but for now I figure I’ll have to have to wait 10 years for the next wave of nostalgia collectors to push this niche into the mainstream of sports collecting.)
**Oh and my thesis is that the THPS1 lineup pro-model autographed decks is essentially the first edition base set of 90’s skateboarder kids… and now of anyone who was exposed to the THPS1+2 remake of the original.**
From what I’ve seen on ebay and content from vintage deck collectors; even though this last year prices and scarcity blew up I think this market is undervalued at the moment relative to its growing, worldwide user-base as “extreme sports” have become mainstream sports and will continue to increase in popularity over the long-term.
If there is anyone besides me that collects both pokemon and decks I am very interested to know what your collecting focus is on and will be happy to share details of my collection!
I’m a HUGE action sports enthusiast! I used to skateboard and snowboard casually, but my main sport has always been inline skating. I was sponsored in high school and college and now operate my own small skating business. I still travel to competitions, perform in event demos, film videos, teach skating, and mentor as many kids at skateparks as possible. The action sports culture has a lot of negative stereotypes, so I try really hard to be a good role model.
My mission statement (part of it): Calculated risks, not destructive decisions!
I love this thread! I grew up Skateboarding my whole life, and THPS1 had a major impact on me as a kid. I think you’re pretty spot on about the original deck line up being comparable to 1st Edition Base. I do wonder what the re-release aspect of those decks looks like though and if there is a way to distinguish between the original release. They definitely have organic demand and the natural supply is pretty low I imagine as not many people were collecting them back then and instead used them and destroyed them as intended.
I recently started collecting decks as wall art. I currently have one of the Naruto x Primitive decks, a Mandolorian element deck, and re-release of Tony Hawks “chicken skull” Powell Peralta deck from The Search for Animal Chin.
Damn, I had no idea things like that even existed but now im super interested myself.
As a kid, the Tony Hawk games were probably some of the most impactful to me. Between the simple yet fun as hell gameplay and the music that sculpted my tastes for years to come, I always look back at those games with fond eyes and i still play them from time to time today. It really brought a whole new outlook to skateboarding and other types of extreme sports, and overall just paved the way for good things to come down the road. Cant say enough good things there and im glad to see that theres actually a collecting side to this too.
As for grading and authenticating and collecting myself, Im sure if you talk to some folks at grading companies you might be able to get a ball rolling there. always worth a shot, as you never know what might happen. I myself dont collect decks either, but ive been tempted to with the pokemon ones at least (not the bear walkers, but the shibuya ones from japan that everyone seems to miss which are way nicer). I think the only deck i currently own is a random Ronnie Creager Blind one from ages ago (had the reaper mascot djing on it) which I meant to build up but now just sits in my storage haha.
To be honest, as a kid that design creeped me out… and two decades later it still creeps me out
But thats just me, I get the nostalgia and thats exactly why I got into buying 90s and 00s decks. Spending years of my childhood looking at THPS to then get my hands on some og items from that era is a pretty cool feeling
Ha, allow me to retort with verifiable evidence that I posted some swirl pix shortly before seeing this comment.
Also, I intend on sharing pics of my deck collection to fully resurrect where I left this thread two years ago so stay tuned! Will be next week as I am out of town… and have been meaning to do this for… …two years ehem
I actually have a number of decks signed by various guys I got to skate with at demos back in the day. Rob D, Jason Dill, Koston, Danny Way, Muska, Daewon Song, etc.
I don’t have any pictures as they are in storage at my parents. They are used decks I road with at the demos.
