Welcome to the June issue of the Board Bazaar, the sometimes-monthly update of vintage board sales. Before we get into it a couple of explanations are owed. Yes, I missed May. No, I don't have an excuse. Yes, it's mid-July and this one is late too. Think it's time for another paragraph...

Being that it's tax time and we're all rolling in cash from creative returns, I figured we'd cut the talk about the collapsing market and check out the top end of town. Let's blow the dust off the antiques and breathe the rarified air flowing through the heights of the second hand board market.

We'll lead out with the aquatic equivalent of a rock supergroup. This board was shaped by Buzzy Trent under Dick Brewer's Surfboards Hawaii label and glassed by Wayne Miyata. You remember Wayne from Endless Summer: "..and here goes Wayne, doing the ultimate thing." The board is a 1962 Elephant Gun, 10'9" with a 2 inch stringer, pulled tail, raked fin, and Trent's signature channels (no, I didn't know they were his signature either). It's a damn rare board to find in Oz and bidding reflected that. After 7 bids the winner took it home for $3,209.99.

Next up is a McCoy shaped by Geoff for Larry Blair to ride in the Pipeline Masters. Blair won consecutive Pipe Masters in '78 and '79 then cockily stated he was going to win five masters in a row. This was the board shaped for him in 1980, he would've been sitting astride it when the Hawaiians turned on him in a repecharge heat circling him and blocking any further progress. Shoulda kept your mouth shut Larry. It's just 6'0" but 19 3/4" wide, bearing little resemblance to today's Pipeline spears. It attracted a lot of interest, 19 bids, with the winning bid being $2,750.

Can't say I like the colour green on surfboards but when it's a board shaped by Michael Peterson I'm prepared to make exceptions. This was advertised as "the holy grail of any board collection" and the seller's not wrong. Shaped under the Gold Coast Designs label it has a Michael Peterson decal on the bottom and a signature near the tail. But is that an 'MP' or an 'NP', 'cos Neal Purchase also shaped there. NP confimed it wasn't his and the board's bona fides are intact. 21 bids took it to $2,650. Cheap considering Richard Hadley recently sold one for $14,000, albeit it in better condition.

The right price, so the saying goes, is what the market is prepared to pay. And sometimes 'the market' is just one person. That was how many people bidded on this Mark Plater-shaped MR twin. $1,200 was the bid. If it's not a record for a non-MR shape then it must be close to it. The board was advertised with little info, no dimensions, no backstory, no sellers spiel. Didn't matter though, there was someone out there with both the coin and the inclination, and now they have an expensive little twinny in their quiver.
 

An overlooked era in design is the early-70s twin fin. Influenced by Hawaiians such as Reno Abellira, Oz board builders produced stumpy twins with the fins sitting on the corners of the tail block. It may be argued that the mini-Simmons owes a debt to the design, though, as per the name, people refer to Bob Simmon's design of the 50s. Neal Purchase jnr is doing something slightly similar with his Duo, but again there's no reference to this earlier era. The early-70s twin sits isolated and unexploited. Like the MR above this Farrelly copped just one bid and sold for $1,200.

The early-70s twin era ended around 1973, after that date few surfers were riding twin fins. Mark Richards famously revisted and refined the idea in the late 70s, then rode it to great success. This board by Ben Aipa matches those MR shapes with sharp flyers, toed fins, a pulled back end, finishing in an angular swallow tail. The swallow tail was actually invented by Ben Aipa a few years prior to this board's late-70s vintage. Being an Hawaiian shaper it was never gonna reach top dollar here, yet 21 bids took it to a respectable $710.

Here's a peek into the psyche of the board collector. A few years ago I bought a plain white 1983 McCoy Tri Zap for $250. It was in good condition, barely a mark on it. Yet last month this board- the same in every way to mine except for the spray job - sold for $1,163. Of course it has the classic McCoy spray with black and white checks abutting longitudinal stripes, but what counts among collectors, substance or style? Don't worry, I know the answer and if I had a spare $1,163 laying around I would've paid for it too. We're all shallow bastards...

One more from the Hawaiians! Barry Kanaiapuni was, along with Jeff Hakman, consiered one of the best surfers at Sunset Beach throughout the 70s. Just as Pipe defined Lopez, BK's image was defined by the wide open walls and unpredictable sections of Sunset. This 6'10" would've been a prime Sunset special under the feet of BK. Shaped sometime in the late 70s it features a fitting colour palette. In what other decade has rich purple been de rigeur? But on this, a board for the serious collector, it looks wonderful. 9 bids took it to $635.

We've shown a few twin fins today and here's one more, a late-70s Jet twinny in A1 condition. Shaped by Bruno Buzzolan, this board features all the design and insignia of its age: double-flyer swallow tail, bolt decal on the deck, fade spray on the bottom, alongside some lovely - if functionally questionable - curved channels. The sum of it is a shining example of a high-performance shortboard immediately prior to Simon and his Big Invention. A lone bidder nabbed it for $550. Till next month...hopefully.