NEW YORK, Jan 27 — A collection of all 248 skateboards produced by streetwear brand Supreme has been sold for a record US$800,000 (RM3.3 million) at a Sotheby’s online auction.
Supreme, founded by British designer James Jebbia and established in 1994 in New York’s Soho neighbourhood, gained a special status among skateboarding connoisseurs with its streetwear-inspired clothing.
Starting in 1998, it also began offering quality, limited-series boards designed by big-name artists like Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Richard Prince.
The collection, sold in a two-week online auction that ended Friday, included Louis Vuitton-monogrammed decks, a series of Last Supper decks and a tribute to Nike Air Jordan sneakers.
Also in the collection was a custom-made Louis Vuitton trunk worth several thousand dollars.
The entire Supreme production was brought together by Los Angeles collector Ryan Fuller, who began his years-long quest in 2005.
“I tried to hold off on buying decks for as long as possible because I knew once I started I’d have to have them all,” Fuller said in a video released by Sotheby’s.
While the collection was sold on the lower end of its estimated value — up to US$1.2 million, according to Sotheby’s — it is by far a record for skateboard sales.
In 2012, a board owned by skater Jamie Thomas was purchased for US$38,425 at a charity auction organised by the Tony Hawk Foundation.
And in June 2018, at a sale organised in Hong Kong by Sotheby’s, a series of eight custom boards designed by American artist Kaws was auctioned for US$55,700.
“We’ve seen an increase in value of skateboards over the last five years and it’s a category we’re really interested in doing more,” said Sotheby’s global head of e-commerce Noah Wunsch.
“It’s considered art. People like living with these boards,” he told AFP. — AFP
