Flying Eyeball on a stand · the Von Dutch motif

A winged eyeball on a black round base: blue iris, red veins, and two yellow-green wings sweeping back. The Flying Eyeball — the best-known emblem of kustom kulture.

It was invented by Kenneth Howard, better known as Von Dutch — pinstriper, mechanic and loner from California who from the fifties on striped motorcycle tanks and hot rods by hand. He put the flying eye on them as a signature. He claimed the motif went back to ancient Egyptian and Macedonian models; that is not documented, and he probably made it up. It became the emblem of a whole scene regardless, and remains so.

Not a sticker and not a print but a free-standing figure: the eyeball is modelled and painted, the wings fitted as separate parts. The black base keeps it steady. On a shelf or a dashboard it works better than flat on a wall.

• Flying Eyeball, free-standing figure
• Painted: blue iris, red veins, yellow-green wings
• Black round base
• Von Dutch motif, kustom kulture
• No indication of maker or edition

Good. Paintwork complete and fresh, no chips on the iris or the wing edges. The wings are firmly seated, the base stands without wobble.