Disney auction: Sketchbook, postcard among the top bids

An online auction of Disney memorabilia from films and theme parks brought in more than $1.2 million, the auction house reported Monday. “Walt Disney: The Man, the Studio, and the Parks” auction was conducted Saturday by Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks., California.

The most highly bid item was a World War I sketchbook with drawings made by Walt Disney in 1918. It sold for $75,000. A rare photo postcard signed by Disney in that same era sold for $40,000. (With auction fees, they totaled $90,000 and $48,000, respectively.)

There were more than 800 items offered in the auction. Some items fared significantly better than expected. A bronze Dumbo bust that stood in the hub at Disneyland, went for $20,000 after the auction house had estimated it would bring between $5,000 and $10,000. A Disneyland wait-time sign, expected to draw $7,000 to $9,000, went for $19,000.

Among the lots that were Walt Disney World-based, the top seller was trash can from the Polynesian resort. The auction catalog noted that its color scheme (“greenish,” let’s say) “is exceptionally hard to find.” Final bid was $9,000 for the receptacle, which the auction house expected to fetch between $1,000 and $2,000.

Four character models for Western River Expedition, a planned Magic

Kingdom attraction that was never built, sold for $7,000, the top end of the estimate. Two of the handmade figures represented a banjo player and a character dubbed Doc Cogwheel, a patent medicine salesperson.

An online catalog of the items as well as a listing on the winning bids can be seen at www.vegalleries.com/ waltdisney. (Click on “prices realized” for tallies.)

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VAN EATON GALLERIES/COURTESYPHOTO A Disney-driven auction features early writings and drawings from Walt Disney himself, alongside rare theme-park items and memorabilia from films. Van Eaton Galleries’“Walt Disney: The Man, the Studio and the Parks”auction is scheduled for Saturday. Among the items up for auction are a scrapbook featuring 13 characters drawn in 1918 by teen-age Walt Disney, who was serving in World War I. There’s also a hand-written picture postcard of Walt Disney wearing his Red Cross uniform in front of an WWI ambulance.