For many years now, I have been collecting skateboards for their artistic merits and nostalgic value. A friend that I grew up skating with and fellow Team Ping member, Phil "Smithgrind" Hosey, tipped me off one day to all the many web sites that sold old school decks as well as eBay auctions. I could not believe that not only had so many survived in mint condition through the years, but that there was actually a community of collectors deeply involved and active in it all. I began as most...lurking here and there...bidding on the occassional auction...learning that "RARE" on an eBay description almost never actually means "rare" as I know the term...and generally getting a lay of the land, so to speak. Soon thereafter, the collecting bug bit me. As I am an avid artist (as a hobby, not a career) as well as art collector, this new "addiction" fit quite nicely into my life. I do consider decks as works of art......fine examples of graphic art......fine pieces of contemporary art. However, as my collection grew, I found no proper way to display them as such without paying a framing shop for a high-priced, custom-made frame that really did not do the pieces the justice they deserved. Therefore,I began to make my own specialized frames and fine tuned the design. I had come up with a way to mount the decks so they appeared to float on the wall (I thought it was pretty clever at the time! haha). That's how this idea began....as a way to sell my unique "floating" displays to others.

As my collecting continued, I looked for various other web sites with features I would like to have but again found nothing. At the same time, collecting was gaining even more popularity as well, but there seemed to be no good resource of information. The "collective knowledge" seemed to be spread out over various web sites, among more experienced collectors who frequented many different forums, and/or not available online at all. The true spark ,however, was my disappointment in the rise of fake/fraud decks and goods that were proliferating the collecting community due in large part to no tracking of such activity and no easily available source of information on what to look for, what were variations vs. fakes, and the more detailed information that seemed to come and go so rapidly on forums. Nothing pissed me off more than the thought of someone ripping off skaters and taking their hard earned money...especially if it was possibly other skaters doing it! So, as with my display frames, I decided to build my own site! But at the same time, the idea was (is) that it is not "my" site....it grows as the community grows...the community dictates new features and functions....the community runs the site....I am just the lucky "code monkey" that gets tasked with making all the "visions" become a reality. What you are about to enter is what I think is the most complete and comprehensive set of tools and resources that any collector of skateboards and related accessories could ever need. More than that, I hope it serves as a hub for the collecting community...a virtual meeting ground...so do your part, join today and be a part of our new home here on the web!
- AMORONE

    meet the Staff...

So "yes", many people do email and think this site is run by a staff of folks (which is flattering but I do not have that kind of cash), and yes, I occassionally use the terms "we" and "us" for describing AoS (the now common acronym for "Art of Skateboarding"), but believe it or not, this whole site was built by me, is run me and gets updated by me. I never expected it to grow so large... I thought maybe I would catalog 100-300 decks that would cover most of the 1980's or so and maybe there would be a handful of people who would sign up to enjoy the site. Little did I know, eh? After the first year, I had cataloged over 6000+ decks and other skate-related items from the 1950's through the present times and the membership grew past 3000+ members! Now that's quite some growth for a web site that began as a simple idea and side hobby for me. Initially, yes, I possibly used the words "we" and "us" because, well, other sites do it to provide kind of an anonymous cover to their actual size. But I think it also captures the essense of what this site is about. When I use the words "we" or "us", I am actually referring to all of us who are a part of AoS....without a lot of you (your help, info, pictures, expertise and otherwise), this web site would be nowhere near what it has become. Thanks to all!!!