Amanda Millin

JUNE 22, 2015

For the last three decades, a Disneyland fan in Southern California has been quietly amassing one of the largest collections on the theme park outside of the Walt Disney Archives and the Walt Disney Family Museum. On February 28 and March 1, he offered it all up at auction: nearly 900 lots representing the history of Disneyland, with items ranging from opening-day press kits and Grad Night tickets to character costume heads, props from the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Enchanted Tiki Room, posters and signs, concept sketches, and endless other ephemera. 

The sale, at Van Eaton Galleries in Los Angeles, attracted 150 Disney-obsessed attendees each day, in addition to 1,000 online and telephone bidders. “It’s a reaction going back to their childhood,” said bidder Barry Koper, who applied Tim Allen’s makeup for Disney’s three Santa Clause movies and currently is a contributing writer for Disneyana Update magazine. “No matter what age you are, [Disney] makes you a kid again.”

The live sale attracted Disney employees, present and past, as well as Disney fanatics from around the country. The bidders included Tony Anselmo, the voice of Donald Duck; Rebecca Cline, the director of the Walt Disney Archives; and the legendary Imagineer Bob Gurr, the principal designer of Disneyland’s Monorail. The collector was there, too, a low-key presence in the back of the room. 

The two-day sale achieved an impressive 92 percent sell-through rate and raked in more than $1.7 million, a result the gallery founder Mike Van Eaton attributes to the uniqueness of the individual pieces. “A lot of these items,” he said, “you will never see again.”

Opening Bids: Tiki Time 

During the 20 minutes between shows at the Enchanted Tiki Room, visitors were entertained by a Rolly Crump–designed preshow where Polynesian-style carved figures descended from Tangaroa, the “tree of life.” Of the six 1963 Tangaroa-Ru Babies offered at the sale, this grass-skirted example raked in the largest sum. “He has the most decoration,” said its buyer, a Disney tiki collector whose grandmother worked at Disney World’s Polynesian Village. “He is the best one.”

Estimate: $3,000 to $3,500 Sold: $4,485

Opening Bids: Frontierland Follies

Rebecca Cline, director of the Walt Disney Archives, purchased 16 items, with an exhibit in mind for many of them. Among her treasures was this 1965 Slue Foot Sue costume worn by Betty Taylor in the Golden Horseshoe Revue. The elaborately beaded gown sold for less than its low estimate, and much less than another Slue Foot Sue dress, which Cline lost in a bidding war against the bidder who took the top three lots. 

Estimate: $6,000 to $7,000 Sold: $4,600

Opening Bids: Hocus-Pocus

The poisonous apple dangling from the witch’s hand in the Fantasyland ride Snow White’s Scary Adventures was stolen so many times, it was switched to a hologram in the early 1980s. Due to the frequent thefts, many of the hand-painted props are thought to exist, which may be why this bad apple got such a low estimate. 

Estimate: $300 to $400Sold: $2,300

Opening Bids: The Incredibles

The sale’s top lot was a 1970s singing bird with its original electronics from Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room (the first attraction in the park to use Audio-Animatronic characters), followed by an original 1967 prop from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (rumored to be made partly with human bones) and a 1965 concept painting of the Pirates of the Caribbean signed by the Imagineer and animator Marc Davis. The same anonymous bidder took home all three lots and dominated the sale overall, buying 118 items including a surprise showstopper—a 1958 jar of Tinker Bell’s pixie dust.