Disneyland Collection Nets $1.7 Million

Remember that auction of historic Disneyland memorabilia we wrote about a few weeks ago?  Well, if not, you can find the post here, but the important thing to know about it is that all told the collection sold for roughly 1.7 million dollars, which was about double what the gallery owner was expecting the collection to go for.  The collection had been built over 25 years by Jordan Reichek, an animator from Southern California.  According to the OC Register article on the auction, Reichek “wouldn’t say how he got the items, but Disney used to throw a lot of things away up until the early 1980s…”  Reicheck was quoted saying, “just seeing people be so jazzed about it and hearing their stories, really made me feel great.”

Original 1967 Pirates of the Caribbean skeleton (courtesy OC Register).

Some of highlights:  An animatronic bird from the Enchanted Tiki Room was #1, going for $153,400.  Second place went to a Pirates of the Caribbean skeleton (my favorite item), which went for $129,800.  A 1954 concept drawing of Tomorrowland took in $55,460.  There were a decent number of items that went for more affordable prices as well, like an entrance-gate notice announcing which rides were under construction from 1959.  It went for only $95.

Tiki Room bird that topped the auction (courtesy LA Times)

If you want to peruse the entire 300 page catalog from the auction, it’s still available online at the Van Eaton Galleries website.  There’s definitely some interesting stuff in there.  Some more details on the results can be found in the OC Register and LA Times articles on the auction, as well.

So, have any of you been collecting theme park memorabilia that could go for big bucks if you ever decide to part with it?  Have any items that could be worth a pretty penny?  Let us know (we promise we won’t ask for money afterwards)!