Ron Drummond "The Art of Wave Riding" & Photos
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GUEST:
Today I brought this book that was written by my great-uncle, his name was Ron Drummond. He was a surfing pioneer and icon in Southern...
APPRAISER:
A legend in the surfing world, yeah.
GUEST:
Yeah, he was a legend. He was always a waterman, like he was an L.A. lifeguard back in, like, the 1930s.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
I mean he grew up on the beach, he was based in Capistrano.
APPRAISER:
And he started off canoeing, as I understand it, right?
GUEST:
Canoeing, exactly.
APPRAISER:
And this is a picture of him doing some surfing with a canoe. And it's not necessarily about surfboarding, right? I mean as I understand it, it's about body surfing,
GUEST:
Body surfing.
APPRAISER:
'cause he was really interested in people learning how to get in the water and get out of just lying on the beach.
GUEST:
Yeah, I think the impetus for him was to educate people and get them actively interested in the ocean.
APPRAISER:
Well, he was a fabulously fascinating individual, as you know. I mean, he also became a wrestler in later life, and we have a picture of him with his stage name. What's his stage name?
GUEST:
Whiskers Blake.
APPRAISER:
Whiskers Blake, he had a big beard, he fit right in, in Williamsburg, probably, or Venice Beach today, right?
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And this is a picture of him in his wrestling days I gather, right?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It's an incredible collection. For people in the world of surfing, Ron Drummond is a famous name, and this book is his personal copy. It's a very rare example. We only know of about initially it being privately printed in 1931, about 500 copies were apparently produced. But it's a book that doesn't show up very often in very good condition, and what's so special about this example, of course, is it was your great-uncle's own copy. Because this is his copy, we would conservatively say at auction $4,000 to $6,000. And with the associated photographs, and his signature, and all the archival material from the family, this particular group, I would say, would have an auction value of sort of $6,000 to $8,000 as a group. So it's a phenomenal collection, and an amazing thing to see here in the beach of San Diego.
GUEST:
Thank you. Never gonna sell it.
APPRAISER:
Okay, good.
GUEST:
I'm holding onto it
APPRAISER:
Glad to hear, glad to hear.
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