Kim's Corner: 75 Mickeys Auction
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I’m also not a doll collector - either Mattel, Applause or Disney - so the name Sharon Lee Howard didn’t ring any collector bells. But, after I did a bit of research, I was delighted with the selection. Much like John, Sharon has been in and around the world of Disney Consumer Products merchandise for many years and she has a real grasp of the many moods of the Mouse. She went at each of the costumes with a real eye for detail and a visual style that made each of the 76 costumes - there was a special 76th that was unveiled at the auction preview - look as though it had come from Mickey’s bottomless wardrobe trunk. It takes a costumers talents to make 3-dimensional statue feel animated and an essentially animated character appear real.
From John’s sculptures Sharon took their talents to task and in combination assembled 76 quintessentially Mickey Mickeys. Even those that could have easily gone over the edge - Rock Star Mickey and Holiday Mickey being just two - were well within the bounds of respectful Mickey-hood. Those in Cast Member costumes familiar to anyone who has visited were certainly among the favorites. I fell for Mad Hatter Mickey, Band Leader Mickey and Conductor Mickey - each looked as if they had come right off the rack in Costuming - only with a 5-inch inseam. The detail in each hand-crafted costume was brilliant and told of the care and research that went in to their design and creation.
Having the 75 Mickeys on view in the front windows at World of Disney for the 75 days between Mickey’s 75th and the event really generated interest and, as the auction drew closer, it had a real buzz about it - as all Disney auctions do. And since there was no Official Disneyana Convention last year, and with the announcement that there would be none this year or next, it was the only game in town for the high-dollar collector. I’ve been fortunate to have attended many of the auctions staged as part of the ODC and the frenzy attached to ownership of a rare Disney item can be great fun, if a bit frightening. There were collectors who had flown in from across the country for the event - a couple from Tokyo flew in the day before and flew out the morning after - and flew home with the Mickey they had come for.
With a room full - somewhere between 800 and 1,000 in two sections of the Sequoia Ballroom of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and 18 on the phone bank - of hard-core Disneyana collectors/Mickey fans/auction fans the fun began as the Disneyland Resort Ambassador to the World Becky Murphy welcomed us to the event and introduced the Main Mouse himself - Mickey. Becky noted that “… Mickey may have started as a line drawing from Walt Disney’s pencil, but he’s evolved into a globally recognized cultural icon. And, there aren’t many icons who have been artistically re-interpreted as much as Mickey has… his image has been re-imagined and re-conceived time and time again through the decades.�?
She introduced our auctioneer for the evening - Mr. Charles Dreyer. Charles is a true Jack-of-All-Trades when it comes to the auction process - one he’s been fascinated by since he was a small child - as he has been a seller, a buyer, an auctioneer and a producer of auction events. He’s taken part in more than 700 events and has helped to raise tens of millions of dollars with his talents. He’s known as “Southern California’s Preeminent Fundraising Auctioneer�? and devotes his time to working with non-profit groups. He introduced the second half of this team, his younger brother Robert, who read through the lot descriptions and acted as an on-stage spotter, keeping his eyes open for bidders in the audience.
After a short course on how to be a bidder - including a very funny faux auction for the Grand Californian, which went for something over $900,000,000 - the first lot was called, and Charles asked “All right. You tell me, ladies and gentlemen, where do we have $500 dollars…�? and we were off at a break-neck pace through the 81 items in less than 3 hours. This pace - at times - caused the bidders to feel as though they were being given a bit of the bum’s rush as the bids went from “going once�? to “sold out to you�? in seconds. There were some very close calls and the bids and bidders were confused throughout as the auction increments were very rarely constant throughout the evening - but I don’t believe that there were any bid guidelines published for the evening and they were at the discretion of the auctioneer.
On a couple instances - lot # 51 Holiday Mickey being the most glaring - one of the Mickeys could have easily garnered another $150.00 to $200.00 - but with Charles implementing a $250.00 bid increment the bidders were effectively shut out of the process. Overall, though, it was great fun and each lot had some laughs included - as Charles is a very funny guy - after Robert mis-read a lot description, Charles laughed, “Sometimes an auctioneer’s tongue covers his eye teeth and he can’t see what he’s saying.�? Those who just came to play were delighted with the event. There were three packages for the event - depending on what you wanted and were willing to pay - packages A and B included a refreshment and light hors d’oeuvres meet and greet with the artists, while package C covered entry to the auction and the wonderfully produced 14-page full-color auction catalog.
And any time you get more than you expect, especially from the Disney Company, for the money you’ve already paid for an event is very cool. At check-in all were quite pleasantly surprised by their wonderful event gift - a very cute 4-inch tall Arribas Bros. hand-cut glass domed crystal Mickey figurine. It was created exclusively for the attendees with the Celebrating Seventy Five Years with Mickey Mouse, an American Original logo etched into it - and it’s even dated January 31, 2004, for the event. So, even those who weren’t successful bidders left with a limited edition Mickey. Along with the auction paddle and the catalog, it was a very special memento of the evening.
For those who were successful, along with the Mickey - or Mickeys, as a couple bidders won a couple Mickeys - they had won, each winning bidder also received a Certificate of Verification and a copy of John Loters original concept sketch. The logo base of the statue was included, but the Plexi display case was not. The auction guidelines did point out, however, that the copyrights on each of the Mickeys does not transfer at sale. And that only the physical possession of the item and the rights to re-sell the item are covered under the sale contract. The auction’s terms and conditions were pretty standard for a Disney event.
I didn’t get the impression that the bidders in the ballroom were purchasing for the electronic secondary market though, the feeling was one of ownership and not proprietorship. At most events featuring limited edition/ rare Disney merchandise you can pretty easily pick out those buying for re-sale and those who are simply collecting for themselves. Lot #17 Policeman Mickey was bought by a La Habra policeman and his wife, while lot #31 Fireman Mickey went to a retired fireman - the bidders purchased a Mickey that meant something to them. So far a couple of the Arribas Bros. event gifts have shown up on e-bay, but, none of the 76 Mickeys have.
While each of the Mickeys sold, the same wasn’t true for the event’s art work. The five pieces of flat art offered at the auction were specially commissioned and created exclusively for the event and were part of the Art Experience in Downtown Disney. Each artist was asked to interpret Mickey in “their own way�? and to share that with both the public and then with the bidders. Of the five, the two that were created by artists with a solid and avid collector base sold easily - Elisabete Gomes’ 75 Years of Magic and Fantasy sold for $8,500 and Dave Avanzino’s Mickey Steps Out for $3,500 - and the three by relatively unknown and uncollected Disney Design Group and Disney Consumer Products Division artists were passed and were to be placed on Disney e-bay. Had the bids for them been dropped from a starting of $3,000 into the $1,800/$2,000 range they may have sold.
As the last lot was sold and the auction ended and the bidders filed out - those who weren’t in the successful bidder’s lounge making payment and shipping arrangements - to grab a late dinner or some coffee and run to Disneyland for a couple hours it struck me that without an ODC in the next two years there was some room - and some demand - for a serious Disneyana Auction. I only hope that those who plan such things also got that impression and that more events of this nature have an audience and are worth the time and talent it would take to produce them.