#Amazing #Disney #Parks #Collection #Soars #Auction
The happiest place on Earth for Disney collectors recently was Van Eaton Galleries, where more than 1,000 pieces of Disneyland memorabilia were auctioned.
The Joel Magee Disneyland Collection, the largest privately owned collection of Disney parks memorabilia in the world, was offered in a three-day sale that began on July 17, Disneyland’s 68th birthday. Some of the highlights of the 1,500 pieces out of the 6,000 Magee has amassed over 30 years included the single largest collection of Disneyland Attraction posters—some of which are the only examples known to exist—ride vehicles, props, signage and vintage souvenirs.
Courtesy Van Eaton Galleries
Disney parks have been “the happiest place on Earth” since Disneyland, Walt Disney’s original theme park in Anaheim, California, opened in 1955, so collectors jumped at the chance to take a piece home with them, especially the 96 ride-related items offered. Bidders’ enthusiasm pushed numerous pieces way past high estimates, and sometimes by tens of thousands, including the top lot: a set of three animatronic hitchhiking ghosts that sold for $320,000, soaring past its high estimate of $200,000.
This trio was part of the Haunted Mansion ride at the Magic Kingdom Park when it opened in Florida in 1971. Each one initially sat on a track and would move along with Doom Buggy ride vehicles near the end of the ride.
Courtesy Van Eaton Galleries
The Haunted Mansion, debuting at Disneyland in 1969, is one of Disney’s most popular attractions and exists in nearly all of its parks worldwide. So it’s no surprise that related items were star attractions with bidders. Of the sixty-three offered, three others reached six figures: a rare Doom Buggy attraction vehicle from 1969 that sold for $170,000 (more than three times its high estimate of $50,000), an original hand-painted “stretching” portrait of a man standing on a barrel of dynamite, 1969-70s, that sold for $150,000 (beating its high estimate of $100,000) and another stretching portrait depicting a woman sitting on her husband’s tombstone, 1969, that brought $120,000 (also beating a high estimate of $100,000).
Courtesy Van Eaton Galleries
Four other lots that drew six-figure bids were a 1960s Dumbo ride vehicle from Disneyland that sold for $220,000, a 1955 vehicle from that park’s Peter Pan’s Flight for $210,000 (about double the estimate), the original Global Van Lines moving truck from the Global Van Lines building at Disneyland, circa 1963-79, that sold for $120,000 and three original Tiki Room birds from Walt Disney World in the 1980s with a custom animated display that sold for $120,000.
Courtesy Van Eaton. Galleries
The most popular attraction at Disneyland is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which has entertained close to a third of a billion passengers since its 1967 debut and has been the subject of five movies grossing $4.5 billion worldwide. Nearly 50 Pirates of the Caribbean items were offered, with the top seller being an original hand-decorated attraction poster from 1967 that sold for $13,000.
Courtesy of Van Eaton Galleries
Other standouts included a barnacle-encrusted candle holder prop, 1980s-90s, that sold for $10,000 (more than 16 times its high estimate of $600), a pair of 1967 concept sketches that sold for $7,000 (more than 11 times the high estimate of $600), and a rare cast costume from the 1980s that sold for $3,750 (more than five times its high estimate of $700).
Courtesy of Van Eaton Galleries
Courtesy of Van Eaton Galleries
For more information, visit vegalleries.com.
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