The very skateboard used to make the sport’s most momentous trick will be available as part of a 99-piece collection of Tony Hawk-owned gear and awards to be sold by Julien’s Auctions at the Loews Hollywood Hotel this week. That would of course be the complete Falcon 2 model on which Birdman spun his never-been-done 900-degree rotation at the 1999 X Games, thus spawning arguably the most significant aerial trick in skateboarding history.
Hawk will be on site, a Julien’s spokesperson told Maxim, to congratulate the lucky buyer who nabs this bit of skating history. A portion of all proceeds will benefit The Skatepark Project, a nonprofit Hawk founded “to create safe, inclusive, and community-led skateparks in underserved communities.”
Only two lots in the sale are expected to fetch five figures or more. The headlining 900 board is expected to sell for $500,000 to $700,000. As Hawk told Complex, a security guard in the crowd stole this deck at X Games 1999. Hawk wasn’t pressed, but he did get it back when that guard’s neighbor snitched. It wasn’t supposed to be in this sale—Hawk’s wife wanted it to go to their kids. “We have so many kids,” Hawk responded. “Are we going to cut it into pieces?”
Meanwhile, two of Hawk’s 1982 Powell-Peralta decks—his first pro models—will also hit the block. The earlier deck is valued at $7,000 to $9,000, but another rare, wood-stained iteration could go for $40,000 to $60,000 thanks to a one-of-a-kind smoky patina it acquired in a house fire. And that was only the first time the board narrowly survived a freak accident, as it was later unceremoniously tossed into the street by staff of a shuttered Quiksliver store that had borrowed the board from Hawk. Fortunately, an eagle-eyed aficionado rescued the artifact and put it up for sale, at which point Hawk’s neighbor spotted the deck and connected him with its unwitting buyer so he could buy it back.
The board Hawk had originally planned to ride when he attempted his first competition 900 on will also appear in this sale, though it’s only supposed to gavel at $5,000 to $7,000. He’d used this board to win bronze in the previous day’s “Vert Singles” competition, and every element of it was set up to Hawk’s liking. However, the morning of the “Best Vert Trick” competition, it cracked during a photoshoot for ESPN The Magazine, forcing Hawk to ride an alternate and giving the cracked deck the distinction of being “The Board That Almost Made History.” The roughed-up knee pads, sneakers, and helmet that Hawk wore that fateful night could all sell for $4,000 to $8,000.
Estimates throughout the rest of the sale pale in comparison. For $1,000 you snatch Hawk’s fringed leather jacket given only to members of the Bones Brigade—the storied 1980s-era skate team that included Hawk as well prolific trick creator Rodney Mullen and fellow pioneer Steve Caballero. And what Zillennial wouldn’t clamor for their own Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award blimp or Teen Choice Awards surfboard? There’s two of each, all from the aughts that are currently hovering around $2,000.
Those prices are insane, since Hawk’s superlative significance to skateboarding is analogous to that of baseball’s Babe Ruth and basketball’s Michael Jordan. And while the live auction officially kicks off on September 23 at 10 a.m. PT, early bids for many of the offerings are already at or approaching the top of their pre-auction valuation. Click here to browse all lots or register to bid.
