Ready for bids
Auction house prepping Disney parks auction, featuring animatronics, signs, historic documents, rare art pieces
If vintage animatronic birds, a tambourine-toting doll from “it’s a small world” or an armless Figment prop are exactly what your living room decor is lacking, you may be in luck. Van Eaton Galleries is planning an auction that’s packed with items from Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Included in the catalog are items small (a
Pleasure Island pass from 1992) and large (a ride vehicle from the Star Jets attraction.)
Some of the offerings on the WDW section of the auction have historic appeal and are connected to bona fide Disney Legends. Folks will be able to bid on Mary Blair’s ceramic-tile work that served as a prototype for that very tall mosaic in Disney’s Contemporary Hotel. Van Eaton estimates that will sell for between
$12,000 and $15,000.
From Imagineer Marty Sklar, there are documents from 1967 that were used “to illuminate Walt’s thinking and philosophy for the Walt Disney World project, in the wake of his death,” according to the Van Eaton catalog descriptions. (Estimate: $500 to $700.) Sklar’s copy for the script for Walt Disney’s “Florida Film” — the one where his WDW plans were unveiled — is also on the block and expected to bring in $800 to $1,000.
“While planning this auction, I wanted to try and show the evolution of the Disney theme parks from Disneyland to Walt Disney World and beyond,” Mike Van Eaton, co-founder of the gallery, writes in the catalog for the auction. “The fun of collecting is finding items that resonate with you, and I think there is a lot here to choose from.”
He said the items came from more than 40 consignors, including former cast members, executives, fans and collectors. The gallery is based in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
The catalog is divided into browse-worthy Disneyland and
Disney World sections. There are a lot of paper and printed materials such as newspapers, books, press kits, training manuals, attractions posters, menus, brochures, guidebooks and E tickets. And there are cast memberoriented items such as pins, rings and costumes. The dates range from the 1950s and the planning of Disneyland in California to 2010 or so.
And then there are things that make you go hmmmmm, such as a
Disney World bus-driver uniform or the sack of wheat prop taken from the now-shuttered Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Hmmmm.
There are more than 1,500 items in the auction, but here are five memorable ones with Central Florida roots.
An original oil painting by Jack Laycox. It was the basis of a Delta Air Lines travel poster in the 1970s and features Cinderella Castle, palm trees, bicyclists and a golfer. Estimated price: $1,500 to $2,500. Later in the book, a concept painting by H. R. Russell of the pink Cinderella Castle that marked the resort’s 25th anniversary. Van Eaton Estimate: $700 to $900. (Side note: Russell also did the “Captain EO” attraction poster.)
A large aerial photograph of Magic Kingdom, circa 1975. It measures 60 inches by 60 inches and looks straight down upon the castle. The scale is 1 inch for every 100 feet. In reality, it’s many photos stitched together and was “used by Imagineering as reference when planning the expansion of Walt Disney World.” Estimate: $2,000 to $3,000.
On the smaller, less pricey side, there’s an ashtray (so ’70s!) that features the Contemporary resort as well as the monorail. Estimate: $100 to $200.
The lighted Penny Arcade entrance sign that shined on Magic Kingdom’s Main Street for two decades is expected to bring between $15,000 and $20,000.
An original “stretching” Haunted Mansion painting from the ’70s. It’s the one with a woman holding a rose but (wait for it) she’s sitting on her husband George’s tombstone. More modern images from the Mansion are printed, not hand-painted, the catalog notes. Estimate: $80,000 to $100,000. Now if I only had no windows and no doors and six figures of disposable income.
The catalog, which includes images and descriptions of these items and hundreds of others, can be seen at vegalleries.com/decemberauction. There’s more information there about the bidding process for the auction, which is scheduled for Dec. 7-8.