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Disney’s
Midas Touch
Just
about everything Walt Disney touched
has become gold, particularly these
days. The following are some items Walt
touched and what they sold for at auction.
 Walt
Disney’s passport dated August 19,
1965 sold for $28,680 in April. It was
issued to the legendary animator shortly
after the giant success of Mary Poppins
(1964) and 16 months before his death
(December 15, 1966). Disney signed the
passport twice in blue ink (as "Walter
E. Disney"), including once along
the edge of his smiling photo. It bears
only one set of visa stamps, for a trip
to and from London.
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 A
Walt Disney signed Pinocchio production
book sold for $17,925. One of the
most magical and beloved of all the
Disney classics, Pinocchio is charmingly
timeless, with its title character's
touching dreams and frightening adventures
and the Oscar-winning song When You
Wish Upon a Star. Only100 of these production
books were for the 1940 animated feature.
The book has script and storyboard excerpts,
and the signature is one of the largest
and boldest samples of Disney's to be
found.
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 A
1940 Dell comic book featuring an
early appearance of Donald Duck sold
for $6,572 in August of
2006. Drawn by Al Taliaferro, this comic
book is listed as one of the 100 most
valuable Golden Age comics.
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 Original
Disney movie posters are also favored
by collectors. The Brave Little Tailor,
a one-sheet poster (27” x 41”) for
the 1938 movie by RKO, was sold in 2002
for $10,637. By 1938, the majority of
cartoons that featured Mickey Mouse
co-starred him with Goofy, Donald Duck
and and/or Pluto. The Brave Little Tailor
was a cartoon that was all Mickey, and
not only was it one of the character's
most popular adventures, it was also
nominated for an Academy Award.
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 In
2006, a one-sheet movie poster for
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937) sold for $17,925. Walt Disney
invested $1.5 million (a gigantic sum
in 1937), three years of hard work,
and the talents of 570 artists in this
production. But in true Disney style,
it turned to gold, earning $8.5 million
during the Depression.
(All
photos and information, courtesy Heritage
Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas, www.ha.com.)
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