Tony Hawk’s Burned, Broken, And Legendary Boards Just Pulled In Over $1M At Auction

To me, one of the most interesting things about collecting memorabilia is how much the story behind an item is what makes something more valuable than the item itself.

For instance, if I took a skateboard deck and tossed it on my PK Grill for a couple of hours, not only would I not be able to find anyone to buy it, I'd probably have to pay someone to take it off my hands.

I'd also have to explain to my neighbors why I was cooking a skateboard deck…

But if that singed skateboard deck belonged to Tony Hawk, it's suddenly worth more than $50,000.

Why? Because he's Tony Friggin' Hawk.

This week, Julien's auctioned off a ton of Tony Hawk memorabilia, including a bunch of skateboards. This included the first pro skateboard that the skating icon ever rode, which sold for $57,600.

Meanwhile, another board — 1982 Powell-Peralta Signature Pro Model skate deck — sold for $51,200, and that was largely because of its somewhat legendary backstory.

The deck was damaged in a house fire and was presumed lost for years until it was eventually recovered by Hawk.

But while those two boards raked in some serious coin, they pale in comparison to the board that Hawk used to land his signature trick, the 900, for the first time.

Hawk was riding a Birdhouse "Falcon 2" skateboard at the 1999 X Games in San Francisco when he landed the trick in what is one of skating's most iconic moments.

That slab of wood with trucks and wheels sold this week for a mind-boggling $1,152,000. That's well above the $500,000 to $700,000 that the auction house was anticipating.

That's crazy money, but it all makes sense.

Tony Hawk isn't just the most famous skater of all time; he's a bona fide cultural icon, especially for those of us who grew up in the '90s.

Hell, the re-release of Tony Hawks's Pro Skater 3 + 4 had me considering buying my first legitimate skateboard at 30. 

That's some serious influence… or maybe I'm just easily influenced. I like to think it's the first one.

So, some of the boards he used throughout his career, including one from one of the most memorable moments of his career?

Yeah, that'll go for a pretty penny.