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+ Fakes and Frauds (and a few collecting myths) |
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Hosoi, Skull Skates and the Pink (and other color) Hammerheads
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| One of the most
discussed decks as a possible fake is the pink and black Hosoi Hammerhead. Originally, the Hosoi "Hammerhead"
was made by Skull Skates. Christian's dad, Ivan, came up with the graphic. Around 1986 or so, you can
find ads in Thrasher and such for Hosoi "Hammerheads" by "Hosoi", ie. no Skull Skates. Also, you will
see ads by Skull Skates that in effect read "if it doesn't say Skull Skates, it's not legit". So how did
all this confusion come about? Based on postings to several forums, we found the following information: |
| <name withheld> "....I
have been told since the mid 90s that the pink and black hosoi's without
the skull skates logo were manufactured on the west coast by a skateboard
distributor. AWH distribution out of Ohio bought hundreds of them
back in the day and upon receiveing them freaked out and sent them
back.The same distributor was caught by World Industries making bootleg
decks and t-shirts and selling them over seas.The same distributor
was also caught buying stolen merchandise off of World Industries
employees and caused a huge scandal in the skateworld....I have been
offered this deck many times for as low as 65.00,I have never bought
one. There is a more involved story about Hosoi hopping companys so
often in the 80s that Ivan Hosoi had some manufactured and sold them.As
well as skull skates supposedly making some without a skull skates
logo. I got a lot of this info from Monty Nolder one drunken night,as
well as talking to employees at trade shows over the last 7 or 8 years.
Oh,this distributor is also the one responsible for the blind,world,plan
b decks that have been showing up on ebay.These are new school decks
with new school hole patterns with laser copies/left over slick graphics
sublimated on to them. Remember these decks are not slicks like the
old school boards.These bootlegs are sublimated. A process that didnt
become popular untill 1998.Maybe 1997. Beware any Plan B-Sal Barbier
Pollution, Plan b -Danny Way Lepercaun,Blind- Guy Mariano Accidental
Gun Death ,Plan B-Danny Way Shotgun,101 - kris markovich Evil Kenivel
, 101 - Gabriel Rodriguez Punisher/Penalizer , World-Jeremy Klein
kid w/black eye world....and i think a couple more..." |
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| <name withheld>
"I might add that with Hosoi hopping from manufacturer to manufacturer
in the '80s, saw many of these manufacturers stuck with decks that
had been pressed prior to being informed they'd been dumped. For all
intents and purposes, these decks were legitimate Hosoi decks. Of
course, I'm sure some companies continued to press the decks on purpose.
Also, feeding the confusion were the ads Skull Skates put out when
they started making Hosoi's decks that claimed that "if it doesn't
say Skull Skates on it, it's fake" -which is patently absurd!
But despite the absurdidty, it worked. And the legend of the Hosoi
fakes continues to mutate as it's passed on again and again."
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| <name withheld>
"What's up! I was going to trash your *fakes* page until I read
it. Christian himself personnaly authenticated them. I friend of mine
who bought a truck load of them about 10 years ago had Christian sign
a number of them (these are usually the signed-ones on ebay) Christian
said this guy made them for him and then kept on making them after
he went to Skull Skates. Christian and PD tried to sue him, but as
he explains in numerous interviews, the legal costs got to be to much
in relation to the $2-$3 per deck royalty he hoped to receive from
the law suit." |
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| <from Positive Destiny (aka.PD) of Skull Skates>
"These boards were all produced by "Wee Willie Winkels" in Canada for this shady guy named Robert Rose
while Christian Hosoi was under contract with Skull Skates....we ran the skull Skates' "real Hosoi" ad, and
they started bootlegging the Skull Skates Hosoi's too! [I recently acquired one of these very Skull/Hosoi
bootlegs directly from Winkels himself] Very unscrupulous to say the least! I guess in between Skull Skates
and Santa Cruz is when they [Christian/Ivan] were selling boards out of the trunk of a car n'stuff,but
I'm not sure. I was over it by that time. We paid Christian and Ivan royalties on every single Hammerhead we
ever made in good faith even though neither of them seemed too interested in stopping the distribution of
these bootlegs [it goes on until this day]. An east coast distributor was buying 5000 pcs. per order knowing
they were not legit. We have heard rumours that the Hosoi's were getting paid royalties for the fakes but
never knew for sure. These fakes are of terrible quality inside out and threatened our reputation for top
quality construction because people thought we built that crap. I love Christian, and I had the privledge to
skate with him many times during the course of his Skull Skates sponsership and beleive him to be one of the
most gifted people I have ever seen skateboard [I first saw Christian in 1979 at Marina del Rey skatepark in
the upper keyhole and knew then he was going to take skating to another level] but it's the most hassle I've
ever had to go through in almost 25 years of making skateboards." |
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| And as always, check pictures on eBay very closely.
Blemished decks or factory seconds are very difficult to spot. Before
bidding, always check via the "Advanced Search" option, the seller's
past history and feedback. Look for anything in the history that may
look sketchy (i.e. using another user id to bid on their own items....yes,
it happens....or listing the same deck every number of days). My best
advice is to deal only with collectors you trust! |
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