Disney Memorabilia

I received an email from a fellow collector looking to identify some Duff Tweed wood carved items. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with the works of Duff Tweed, but apparently he was an artist commissioned by Disney in the 60’s and 70’s. I followed up with the gentleman (Brad) and mentioned I would post his inquiry on our site in hopes of finding someone who knows more. Here is an excerpt from his email describing the pieces…

“The pieces are four carved pieces of a western band know as the Slaughter House
Four from Prestscot Az.. They are approx. 13" high and mounted and framed all original. Each piece has the biography of the subject written by Duff and signed on the back. This is deteriorating because of the time involved. They were given to the family as a business gift from Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1959 or 60? Thanks again, I hope this spurs some interest and price is really a mystery at this point but I believe de was a popular and very collectable at one time, so?”

If you have any information about Brad’s items, please leave a comment below (to enlighten us all) and email Brad at bearbbbb@msn.com

Thanks – Disneyman

It is hard to imagine in our modern era of plastic novelties, but some of the best selling Disney toys in the 1920’s and 1930’s were actually made of tin.  The primary manufacturer of these products was Ohio Art.  Ohio Art revolutionized metal lithography as they expanded on their original process of creating wood-grained metal sheets, which were molded into picture frames.  The frames were an instant success and the company quickly grew.  Founder Henry Simon Winzeler saw the opportunity to diversify his product line and soon entered the toy manufacturing market.  He teamed with Disney and other brand partners to create a full line of tin lithograph products. [Read more →]

Robert Olszewski is best known to Disneyana collectors as the man behind the Disney Storytime Collection of figurines.  Robert’s story is filled with artistic accomplishments beyond his well known Disney works.  You can read his full bibliography on his website.

Robert first became involved with Disney while working as a figurine designer at Goebel.  He designed a number of figurines under the Disney Goebel line, including the first figurine designed specifically for a Disneyana convention in 1994.  After leaving Goebel to start his own studio, Olszewski was signed on with Disney in 1995 to develop prototypes for their Enchanted Places line.  These miniature figurines were sold within the Walt Disney Classics Collection. [Read more →]

The Shelby Cycle Company is well known for creating some of the most desirable collector bicycles.  Shelby’s main retail customers were the large chain stores such as Montgomery Ward, Spiegel, Gambles stores, Firestone and Goodyear. [Read more →]

Disney’s famous movie Fantasia is generally regarded as one of the all-time classics of animation. Touted as a landmark achievement in film animation, the movie is made up of several short pieces set to a classical composition performed by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. [Read more →]

Of the thousands of Disney character books that have been released since the early 1900’s, no variety is rarer than the original Disney Pop-Up books.  The first series of these novelty books appeared in 1933 with “The Pop-Up Mickey Mouse”.  Published by Blue Ribbon Press, the man behind the idea was premium marketer Sam Gold. 

Sam defined his career as a marketer by developing such widely used concepts as cereal prizes, direct mail leads, and point-of-sale advertising.  Mr. Gold is credited his success to appealing his ideas to children in a time when only their marketing influence was widely ignored.

In 1933, Sam approached arranged a licensing deal with Disney to use Mickey Mouse and other characters in a series of pop-up books.  He worked with original Disney artists and Disney guru Kay Kaman to create a quality product that appealed to both children and Disney executives.  Blue Ribbon Press experience incredible success with the new pop-up book line, and Sam later secured deals to license other popular cartoon characters.

Of the entire Disney pop-up book line released under Blue Ribbon Press, the original works draw the most attention and highest valuation.  Some examples are listed below.

1933 The Pop-Up Mickey Mouse - $600
1933 Mickey Mouse in King Arthur’s Court (dustjacket) - $1500
1933 The Pop-Up Minnie Mouse - $600
1934 The Pop-Up Mickey Mouse in Ye Golden Days - $800

With the heightened popularity of Disney Pins, I thought I would take a moment to look back at the beginnings of this particular niche of memorabilia.  The first Disney pins were produced in the early 1930’s and were primarily used to promote the series of Mickey movies that were running at the time.  These pins were manufactured with traditional button-making design – a lithograph image wrapped around a coin-sized metal and mechanically pressed.

[Read more →]