(NEXSTAR) — Like a fur coat made from supple Dalmatian skin, some of the most sought-after Disney collectibles continue to elude even the most passionate collectors.
For the better part of a century, “Disneyana” collectors have made a hobby out of acquiring merchandise, artwork and other memorabilia based on their favorite Disney properties. There’s also a whole category of collectors buying up items from Disney’s actual physical properties, such as the signage, props or even the ride cars used in Disney parks.
Many collectors, too, are also seeking the same qualities in most items, according to an expert.
“It all boils down to popularity, scarcity, condition and pose,” Jim Lentz, the director of animation and anime art at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, told Nexstar.
Lentz, who specializes in animation art and “Disneyana,” explained that items inspired by Disney’s most visible characters will always fetch more eyeballs — and money — at auction. Disney memorabilia is even more valuable if those items are rare, in good condition, and depict a familiar scene, Lentz added.
“You can have a piece [of Disney memorabilia] from ‘Lady and the Tramp,’ but if it’s Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti in the most romantic scene in the history of animation, it’s going to do better,” he told Nexstar.
Lentz acknowledged, however, that there has been a noticeable “shift” in which Disney properties and characters are the most popular among recent generations of collectors.
“We all collect our childhood,” said Lentz, noting that previous generations may have wanted more “Pinocchio” or “Fantasia” memorabilia. “[But] now millennials outnumber baby boomers … and they’re paying more money for ‘Roger Rabbit’, ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘Lion King.’ Because it’s 30 years ago.
“’The Little Mermaid’ is my 40-year-old daughter’s ‘Snow White,’” he said.
Despite this, Lentz said “Disneyana” collectibles from the company’s older properties are still in demand, thanks in part to continued visibility via streaming, theme parks and toy lines. But sales from recent auctions clearly illustrate the generational “shift” he had mentioned. In early November, Heritage Auctions held an auction for Disney Big Figs (large figurines), and the item that fetched the highest bid was a life-size Jessica Rabbit, which sold for $15,600 — or around $5,000 more than the second-most expensive item (a Mad Hatter figurine).
Other popular items from recent auctions include animation cels or props from the production of “The Little Mermaid,” “The Emperor’s New Groove,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Hocus Pocus” — with a prop from the latter fetching $68,750 in March, data from Heritage Auctions shows.
Again, that doesn’t mean memorabilia from earlier films isn’t still popular; die-hard collectors just might be fewer and further between than in previous decades. Props from classic Disney films and Park memorabilia, especially, continue to sell for among the highest prices at recent Heritage Auctions, data from the site shows.
“Ride cars [from the parks], those command the most money,” Lentz said. “And certain animation cels, a black-and-white Mickey Mouse cel from the ‘30s, when art was routinely thrown away — that’s the holy grail.”
It’s also not terribly hard to estimate what a specific piece of memorabilia might fetch. Heritage Auctions has sold over 61,000 “Disneyana” items, with sale prices and item details available to view online. There are also online collecting communities that can help determine the value of just about any piece of Disney memorabilia imaginable, aside from maybe Dalmatian-fur coats.
“It’s basically just common sense,” Lentz said. “Great pieces get great prices.”
