Personal and Historical Artifacts from the Life of Walt Disney at Van Eaton Galleries
Los Angeles, California - Van Eaton Galleries, one of the world’s premier animation artwork and collectibles galleries located in Sherman Oaks, California, has announced an extraordinary auction event highlighted by never-before published photographs of Walt Disney’s personal life, as well as a 1953 construction plot plan that Walt Disney drew on to show the boundary for Disneyland. The “A Brief History of the Walt Disney Studios” auction will take place on July 7, 2018 at Van Eaton Galleries located at 13613 Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks, California. The auction includes some of the most closely-related artifacts to the life of Walt Disney that have ever been offered for public sale.
Rare highlights include a complete set of exceptional personal photographs of Walt Disney and the Rancheros Visitadores social club. The photo archives depict Walt Disney riding on horseback and camping during one of the Rancheros Visitadores’ yearly excursions through the Santa Ynez Valley. This set includes several never-before-published photos of Walt Disney who took part in the excursions in the late 1930s and into the 1940s.
The photos clearly show a down-to-earth and very casual side of Walt Disney that few have ever seen (Estimate: $6,000-$8,000). Additionally, Van Eaton Galleries will offer a Walt Disney personally-signed Rancheros Visitadores Camp Site sign. This incredibly detailed hand-painted sign was for Walt’s camp site, “Camp Cine Q”.
The sign features the signatures of several of the club’s members including American artist Victor Clyde Forsythe who also created a sketch next to his signature. It also features Walt Disney’s signature accompanied by his personal drawing of Mickey Mouse. Original drawings of Mickey Mouse by Walt are among some of the most sought after Disney artifacts and are rarely seen (Estimate: $12,000-$15,000).
“The ‘A Brief History of the Walt Disney Studios’ auction doesn’t just tell the story of the Studio, but it tells the story of Walt and his team of talented artists and individuals who helped build the company,” says Mike Van Eaton, Co-Owner of Van Eaton Galleries. “We consider this one of the rarest opportunities we have had to show the world a side of Walt Disney that few have ever seen, through personal photographs and personally-signed or hand-drawn items. Many of these items have never come to auction before and are among the only such examples of these items that we have ever seen. To say we are excited about this auction is an understatement. Anyone who recognizes the incredible value of such items from Walt’s personal life will understand how significant this auction is.”
A plot plan for Disneyland is among one of the rarest and most historically important items to be offered. In August of 1953, shortly after acquiring land in Anaheim, Walt Disney took a grease pencil and drew a triangle on this plot plan to represent where he wanted the Disneyland trains to run, thus creating the boundaries for the park and the beginnings of Disneyland as we know it. This original drawing by Walt represents the earliest known appearance of the shape of Disneyland and its location in Anaheim, and also represents Walt Disney’s personal involvement and input in every aspect of the creation of his park. (Estimate: $100,000-$200,000).
Walt Disney loved railroads so much that he had one built in his backyard. Van Eaton Galleries will offer a piece of Railroad Track from Walt Disney’s own backyard railroad (Estimate: $50,000-$60,000) as well as an extremely rare Walt Disney signed “Laugh-O-Gram” stock certificate from Walt’s early animation studio (Estimate: $8,000-$10,000).
Nearly 600 items will be offered in the “A Brief History of the Walt Disney Studios” auction that range from furniture from the 1940’s Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, original Disneyland props, animation art from Disney cartoons and films from the 1920s through the 1980s, and much more. Other highlights include a Mickey Mouse Writing Tablet Salesman Sample (Estimate: $3,000-$5,000); a 1934 Colson Mickey Mouse Tricycle (Estimate: $1,000-$2,000); a Disneyland “Snow White’s Scary Adventures” Tree Prop (Estimate: $5,000-$7,000); a Disneyland Donald Duck Walkaround Character Head (Estimate: $2,000-$3,000); A Disneyland Pluto Walk Around Character Head (Estimate: $2,000-$3,000); a Disneyland “Indiana Jones Adventure” Wait Time Sign (Estimate: $4,000-$6,000) and a Walt Disney “Mousecar” Award (Estimate: $2,000-$3,000)
