Vintage Burton Snowboard Just Sold for $30,100

Vintage Burton Snowboard Just Sold for $30,100

This hot ticket came across my news feed this morning, the auction on this vintage Burton snowboard having just ended at the final price of $30,100.  I had to do a double-take; because that price tag is bonkers.

The board in question appears to be a Burton Londonderry or similar, from around 1981, which would be rare enough if it wasn’t apparently also a special edition built for (and to curry favor with) Stratton Mountain back in the days when snowboards and snowboarders weren’t allowed at 99% of ski resorts in the world. Some comments I read said that only 6 of these were made.

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Although the final auction price of $30,100 is clearly out of this world, it’s not totally unprecedented.

  • In July of 2014, a 1977 BB1 Londonderry sold for $31,313.13 [via Transworld]
  • In January of 2013, a rare “Black Widow” Burton Performer fetched $11,732 [via WhatSellsTheBest]
  • In March of 2012, a nearly pristine 1978 Londonderry sold for $11,211.11 [via VintageWinter]

What is different is the other boards were brokered or otherwise sold by parties that had some reasonable understanding of the item’s rarity and/or value. With this eBay Londonderry on the other hand the seller had no idea what she had when she bought an old storage locker for some clothes and furniture, only discovering two snowboards after rummaging through the locker’s contents.

 

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"I bought a storage unit because it contained some clothes and furniture that looked interesting to me. Finding the snowboards was a surprise since they were not in view when I first looked at the unit.

Being unaware of the value’s and just taking a peak on ebay for what other snowboards sell for I decided to sell the first snowboard with a BIN of $250.00."

 

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That other vintage Burton snowboard that she sold for $250? A 1981 Burton Backhill which is a pretty rare and pricey board in its own right (there is an allegedly never-been-used, single-owner Backhill currently listed on ebay with a BIN price of $2,800). Figuring she might have something else worth slightly more than $250, she put the second board up for auction and was overwhelmed with the responses.

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"

I have tried my hardest to respond to all questions … I have never had so many emails for an item before. I will not be calling people on their phones nor am I comfortable with people coming to my house to look at the snowboard. I would like all communication to be through ebay. I will do my best to answer all questions that I can.

At this time I am going to let the auction take its complete course. Thank you for all the offers"

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While I think $30,000 is bat-shit crazy, I hope the transaction is legit and the buyer makes good on the auction sale. There was at least one other bidder willing to put up 30 large on this deck, and one more at just over $20K, so no matter what happens it looks like this eBay seller struck gold in that storage locker.
 

http://www.agnarchy.com/this-vintage-burton-snowboard-just-sold-for-30100/

 

Author: jax