When I first saw this board, the old guy wanted 100 bucks for it. I already have a ton of boards so passed on it and went home. Went back later to look closer, and he said he would take 80, but all he really wanted for someone to use it and not make a table or use it for decoration. Consider it done.
I am not sure if it is worth what I paid for it or not, but the history is unique and my son thinks I have the Babe Ruth signed ball of surfboards so that alone is worth it.
Not quite a “Babe Ruth” level collectible, but multi stringer Hynson red fin boards from that era have held value better than many 60s shapes. There’s a guy named Mark Fragale who concentrates on collecting those. Unfortunately, he treats them like museum pieces and doesn’t ride them. I’ve owned a few collectible sticks over the years and I make a point to ride each at least once a year.
And, you could probably sell that for well over $1000, easily.
That is a really nice board. Notice how much roll there is in the bottom in that shot of the fin.
The original redfin decal and the hand written HY II makes me think that it’s an early one. Maybe a prototype.
It would be unusual to run out of lams but it would not be unusual for a new model to not have a lam made up yet. In fact I don’t ever remember the lam coming first and then a prototype. Always the other way around.
Sometimes the prototype didn’t have a name or the name got changed along the way. The Gypsy very quickly became the Gypsy Ryder.
When Paul Bordieri shaped the fist shorter board for me (6’2 when most boards were 7’0-7’6) he wrote “Li’l Bit” on the stringer. It became the “Little Gypsy” when the ad came out.
When Morey shaped the first 5’10 Waterskate out of a 12’ lifeguard blank one Sunday afternoon after talking me into opening up the factory (I still remember him stopping by my oceanfront pad in Mission Beach, “Hey, do you have a key to the factory”?) it had no name. I didn’t even know the name until I saw the ad.
“There’s a guy named Mark Fragale who concentrates on collecting those.”
Hi Sammy - Yes, that’s the guy who wrote a Longboard magazine article on the Hynson boards awhile back. I’ve read it a few times - there is some interesting stuff in it.