Goofy’s head goes for $19,000 at auction
A costumed character head of Goofy once worn at Magic Kingdom sold at an auction of Disney-related items for $19,000 this month. That was more than Van Eaton Galleries had anticipated. The pre-auction estimate was between $4,000 and $6,000.
Van Eaton, based in Studio City, California, has periodic auctions stocked with privately owned Disney artifacts from around the world. Its latest event was titled “Exploring the Disney Universe.”
Goofy’s head was the highest-drawing item from the auction’s Walt Disney World section. It was described as “incredibly rare” and dating to the 1990s. A Park Hopper character costume displayed on the same page of the Van Eaton catalog sold for $3,500, topping the estimate of between $1,000 and $2,000.
Several Epcot-related items were overachievers. An 8.5-inch bronze sculpture of Figment and Dreamfinder sculpted by Bill Toma, estimated to draw between $200 and $400, brought in $3,000. A large 1990 site plant print of Epcot by John Horney went for $3,200. Its estimate was $600-$800. A Spaceship Earth “cast members only” aluminum sign sold for $2,000, above the estimate of $300-$500.
Four lots of sheet music for “Food Rocks” songs, autographed by singers including Little Richard, went for at least $3,000. They had been expected to draw $200-$400 apiece.
A framed poster for the 1971 opening of Fort Wilderness Campground, touting a “genuine steam train” and “a forest oasis on the shores of beautiful Bay Lake” was auctioned off for $2,200, exceeding the Van Eaton estimate of $300 to $500.
But the Walt Disney World 20th anniversary paper sculpture called “Where Dreams Take Flight” sold for $5,500, less than the gallery’s $7,000-$9,000 estimate.
Overall, the auction had a handful of bids that closed at or above the $20,000 level. Two of its 1,559 lots went for $32,000: a Haunted Mansion 50th anniversary guitar (one of 13 manufactured) and an “it’s a small world” concept painting for Disneyland by famed Imagineer Mary Blair.
A complete listing of winning bids and the auction catalog are available at vegalleries.com.
