Recent Sales

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Todd

Hello everyone.

As I like to do from time to time, last night I took a moment to review past sales on eBay that I may have missed over the last month.  Since I have been busy recently, I was not surprised to come across some rather interesting results that escaped my attention.

NT0012_used1960_frontFirst up is this used “pre-opening day” card, NT0012.  In and of itself, this used card is not that remarkable except for one thing…the postmark.  This card was used in October of 1960.  Maybe I am the last person in the hobby to realize this, but I was under the impression that these cards were off the shelves a couple years after the park opened.  I have seen (and actually look for) cards postmarked 1955.  And I have also seen cards postmarked through 1958…maybe 1959.  But 1960 is rather late.  So, it seems these cards were reprinted for quite a few years after the park opened.  Has anyone out there seen one of these postmarked after 1960?  Oh…the card sold for under $3.

Disneykin_Donald_1963_frontThe most remarkable sales in the last few weeks from a price perspective were two Disneykin cards that sold for over $500 each. (If you click on the link…follow the link to the original item on the banner at the top of the page.  For some reason eBay doesn’t want to show this result via this link and is showing some other random item…which they are calling similar…ha!).  Anyway…these cards are not exactly called out in the Nickel Tour…there is just a catch-all NT0595 that captures the group.  That, however, clearly has not stunted demand for these rare collectibles.  A reader of this blog recently told me that he would be willing to provide a post on these items: background and collectibility of the various kinds of Disney-kin cards.  But…he recently had a new baby show up in his family, so we’ll see!!

Shag_TinFinally, I always like to pick a card or cards in these “Results” posts that make me go, “Huh?”.  We all have seen or have in our collections the Josh Agle (aka Shag) 40th Anniversary Haunted Mansion set that was put out a few years ago.  It comes in the tin (shown here) and contains 14 5 X 7 cards.  Recently on eBay, some enterprising individual decided to break up the set and sell each card individually. They managed to get $16.95 for EACH card! (well, at least for several of them…and same thing as above…the link won’t take you to the completed item…you have to follow the banner link to the sold item).  Meanwhile…the complete set has sold multiple times recently for ~$50 (ok…a couple sold for ~$140 as well…but that is a huge increase over what the set has been selling for over the last year.  It still makes no sense.  This set has been regularly selling for around $50-$60 for the last couple years).  This example, my dear reader, is one of the reasons why this site exists!  To educate folks so they don’t waste their money!

Anyway…thanks for tuning in again today.  Hears hoping for some rain in California!

Until next time…

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A Quick Trip to Florida

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Todd

No19This past weekend I made a quick trip to the Orlando area while attending the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race.  I have been a car racing fan ever since I was a kid…getting a chance to go see this race was an opportunity I was not going to miss.  The main reason I went is that my brother was actually a driver of one of the cars.  So, it was a must to attend!

WDW_2014After the race was over on Sunday, I took a couple hours and went to Downtown Disney to have dinner, and checkout what was available in terms of postcards and other stuff.  The “World of Disney” store there is enormous!  But…after asking around, I did find the small rack of postcards available at the shop.  The most interesting card was this 2014 lenticular card.  It seems that these are the only cards that are really new each year.  The rest of the cards (at least the ones available outside the Park) don’t seem to change that much…at least for Disneyland.  It may be a bit of a leap to say the same for WDW since I am rarely there, but some of the cards on the rack there are the same ones I saw seven years ago on my last visit.

WDW_Rack_01_2014Speaking of the rack…here is a shot of what was on it.  Three different folders, and various other cards.  Those larger white bordered cards are part of a much larger series.  I think I have close to 25 to 30 different cards in that set….but I am not sure if I have the compete set.  You can see most of the cards at disneylandpostcards.net (but this is also not a complete set as I have some that are not shown there).

Anyway…sorry it took so long for a new post.  Things have been really busy lately.

Until next time…

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Disneyland Paris Postcard Checklist – The Next Installment

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Todd
DP-0112

DP-0112 – The Hotel New York

I have finished uploading the next installment Disneyland Paris postcards into the checklist, and wanted to share with you the result.  This set of cards runs from 00108-00096 through 00108-00122.  I have numbered the group with “NT” numbers from DP-0108 through DP-0134.  There are a couple small gaps in the run, and a couple other interesting things to point out.

DP_list

This series of cards contains both single and multi-views of the park as well as a number of cards showing the hotels at the park.  The Hotel New York, the Hotel Santa Fe, Newport Bay Club, Hotel Cheyenne and the Disneyland Hotel are all represented.  There is one “error” card that I have where the back and front don’t match.  I have listed this as DP-120A.  It shows a picture of the castle with Mickey and friends on the front, but is listed as “Frontierland” on the back.

DP-0126A

DP-0126A – Main Street at Night

Another point of interest is card DP-126.  There are two versions of this card…one designated with “Euro Disney” and the other with “Disneyland Paris” (DP-126A, shown at left).  The park opened as Euro Disney, but the name was changed not long after to Disneyland Paris…so I suspect that the “Euro Disney” cards are earlier.  I have tried to indicate in the comments which cards say “Euro Disney” on the back, and which say “Disneyland Paris”.

Finally, a few of the cards in my collection have small stickers on the back that say “Made in France” (DP-0131 for example).  I thought this was interesting…especially having spent a fair bit of time there.  The French are pretty protective of their culture.  When Disney showed up, there was some backlash.  Making sure that work supporting the park was being done in France was all part of the effort to bolster support for the project.

I have about 40 more Disneyland Paris cards to go to cover the cards I have in hand right now…and that will conclude the start to this list.  I am thinking I may have to go to Europe/Paris to find more of these cards.  Tough duty…but someone has to do it!

Until next time…

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Disneyland Paris Postcard Checklist – A Start

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Todd

Recently I have been putting together a list of Disneyland Paris post cards base on some purchases I have made over the last couple months (thanks Chris!)  No one on the internet seems to have a list of these cards, so I am going to do my best to start one here.  And by start, I mean just that!  I only have about 100 of these cards, but there clearly must be many more.  So…here is what I know so far!

The majority of the cards I have start with a “00108” prefix in the bar code on the back of the card. There are other sets of cards to be sure, but most of the early cards had this prefix.  Within this series, there are brief runs of a few cards, but then there are large gaps with no cards that I know of. Tonight I will talk about the pre-opening art cards (which actually have a “00100” prefix) and the first set of 00108 series cards.

DP-0009The pre-opening cards, which I have spoken of before, will naturally start of the Disneyland Paris postcard checklist.   Going from 00100-00096 thru 00100-00107 (with one exception…see below), these cards show some fantastic concept art for the Disneyland Paris park.  They have “No.1” thru “No.12” printed just above the bar code on the back.  One oddity with this group…No. 1 thru No.12 are not in numerical order relative to the bar code. And where you would expect to see a 00100-00100 card, we get 000100 001716. For the puposes of the checklist, I have labelled these cards as NT# DP0001 thru DP0012.  You can see them all in the checklist tool on this site.  Just filter on “DP” and you will find them.

DP-0018The next set of cards begins the 00108 series. These cards run from 00108-00001 through 00108-00009.  These are all reproductions of Disney movie posters in French. Cinderella (Cendrillon), Fantasia, The Little Mermaid (La Petite Sirene), etc.  These ten cards, which include a variation of card 00108-0009, are all in the checklist and listed as NT# DP0013 through DP0021A.

After card 00108-00009, there is a giant gap up to the next set of cards in the 00108 series.  The next card I have is 00108-00096 (oddly enough, it is a reprint of DP0001).  There could easily be more cards out there that fill this gap, but I don’t know of them.

So…here is a screen shot from the checklist tool of what we have covered in this post:

DP_Cards_1-21

I don’t want to get too carried away and put too much technical info into one post!  So, I am going to leave off here and pick it up another time with the next set of Disneyland Paris cards in the 00108 series.  I hope that this brief glimpse has piqued your curiosity for what is to come!

Until next time…

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A Very Cool Find!

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Todd

Donald_Duck_Whitman_978I was poking around on eBay the other day and came across this item.  After receiving it in the mail yesterday, I had to share!  No…it isn’t a postcard, but it is pretty special!

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will remember when I posted the video of “The Wise Little Hen”, the premiere of Donald Duck.  That was 1934.  This comic, or more accurately, large format children’s book, is the first book to feature Donald Duck on the cover.  It was published in 1935.  It is not is a comic book in the classical form, but is larger and has thicker card-like paper stock for pages.  But the early cover of Donald Duck is fantastic!  Style, flair, attitude!

In really nice condition, this book will set you back a fair bit.  But I was fortunate to get this one shown here for a very reasonable $80.

Anyway…as promised I will try to get to the Disneyland Paris postcard stuff next time…unless I decide to post on another oddity that I found on eBay last night!  It does relate to postcards.  But that will have to wait, as usual…

Until next time…

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Interesting Finish on a Recent eBay Auction

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Todd

Hello everyone!  I hope all of you had a good break from the routine over the holiday.  My family and I had a good “break”…but as the quotes indicate, sometimes the break feels more busy than the routine!  At least the “busy-ness” is filled with activities that are more fun than the usual!

ebay_lot_12_2013_1There was a pretty interesting result on eBay recently that I wanted to comment on today.  The seller must have found a set of cards at an estate sale or the like…and then posted them as a one lot.  Included in the group was NT0005, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, NT0016, The Pink Elephants, and a copy of the Jiminy Cricket Art Corner card, NT0583.  The other cards in the lot are mostly common, except for the aerial Disneyland view, which can often get a good result on its own depending on the day. (Looking more carefully at the lot while writing this post…there may have been two of these cards in the lot)

I was watching this auction with my nephew as the eBay_lot_12_2013_2clock ticked down to the final seconds.  With less than a minute to go, the bid was sitting at something like $22.  My guess was that the ending price would be around $100-$125 for “retail” of these cards.  ($40-$50 for NT0005, $20-25 for NT0016, $25-$30 for the Art Corner card (this might be low), and maybe $15-$20 for the aerial view…the rest of the cards “free with purchase”).

In the last ten seconds the bidding came fast and furious.  $70…$81…$101…$132…with a final winning bid of $135.10.

So…what do we learn here?  A couple things I think.  First off…the NT0005 card continues to command a premium.  I think everyone bidding here saw that as the most valuable card in the lot.  The NT0583 card may have contributed to the price more than I guess…but we would need to see one go separately before making any real judgements there.  And while we don’t see NT0016 that often, pegging it around $25-$30 seems about right based on this and other results.

Anyway…that’s all I have today.  Stay tuned for my next post which will be on Disneyland Paris postcards.

Until next time…

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Disneyland Paris Hotel Cards

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Todd

I have recently been working on putting together a “starter” checklist for Disneyland Paris cards.  I don’t have anywhere near a complete set of these cards, but I have enough of the early cards that a structure can be developed.

DP_Hotel1As part of this effort, I have come across a few Disneyland Paris hotel cards.  There are several hotels at the Disneyland Paris property…seven to be exact!  The Disneyland Hotel is the primary property at the park with “5 star” accommodations.  The first card I have today is an early card from this hotel.  It’s a great water color of the Castle in a kind of mysterious fog!

The other properties at the Paris park are not as high-end, but they offer accommodations which Disney rates all the way down to 2-stars at their own web-site.  In the US, we don’t usually think of 2 stars being a very nice accommodation, but the way hotels are rated in Europe is a little different.  In my time there, I have come across many 2-star hotels that were plenty nice.

DP_CheyenneThe other card I have today is from one of the 2-star options, the Hotel Cheyenne.  The hotel is western themed, built around a “frontier town” and offers a bunch of activities for the whole family.  This card is reminiscent of a Frederic Remington sculpture…the cowboy riding on a wild bronco!

Anyway…I hope you all are enjoying a relaxing week between Christmas and New Year’s.  This is one of my favorite times of year when you can get away from the routine and do things that have been on “the list” for a while!

Until next time…

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Merry Christmas from Disney Postcards!

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Todd

NT0910Hi everyone!

I hope you are enjoying a nice Christmas morning!  I couldn’t let the day run out without wishing you all a Merry Christmas.  I hope you are having a good day and will have a chance to relax and enjoy the time!

Shown here is a picture of NT0910…Disneyland at Christmas!

Until next time…

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Some great cards ending on eBay in a few hours

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Todd

NT0467BaHello everyone…I hope you are enjoying your Christmas eve!

I was just poking around eBay and noticed that eBay seller rystys has yet another batch of key cards closing in the next few hours. Of note here are the jumbo 6X9 Mark Twain at night and the panorama card of the Main Street Station. (That J7B Mark Twain card is rather rare…it’s not even in the Nickel Tour!)

NT0004In addition to these, there is a jumbo of Columbia (NT0467B), a pre-opening card of Tomorrowland (NT0004) , an art corner card of Mickey painting Pluto (NT0581) and a copy of NT0509, the watercolor of the Main Street Flower market.  So…now’s your chance if you need to pick up any of these cards!

Otherwise…I hope you all have a great Christmas day tomorrow!

Until next time…

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Tokyo Disney Gallery Art Cards – Sam McKim

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Todd

The vision of the creators behind the Disney parks is on display the moment you enter the properties.  All the attention to detail, all the hard work that went into executing the vision, is there before your eyes.  As someone whose day job involves design and engineering, this is what I appreciate most about the Disney parks.  Seeing an idea that was well conceived and expertly brought into reality.

Where do those visions start?  Ultimately, they start in the mind of the designers and engineers who created the parks.  In the early days (and still today to some extent) the primary tool a designer will use to express these ideas is a drawing or sketch.

TD_DGTonight I have a pair of fantastic concept sketches of Disneyland that were published as postcards for the Disney Gallery at Disneyland Tokyo.  First up is Sam McKim sketching the Drugstore and Trolley of Main Street, U.S.A, Disneyland.  All that nuance and tone…with just black pencil (perhaps some ink…hard to tell) and a pile of talent!  Be sure to click on the image to get a larger view.  The card itself is 3 1/2 X 5 1/2.

TD_DG_0001Second up is another Sam McKim Main Street, U.S.A. sketch of the Center Street Arcade.  Again…just fabulous detail that does so much, so well, to communicate the vision for a “typical” town in 1900.  The people, the perspective, the architecture, the shadows and shading, even the tones is the sky…this is brilliant artwork!  Sam is noted to have been an active researcher of his subjects.  It shows here.

If you want to learn more about Sam McKim, check out his obituary in the LA Times here. He passed away in 2004…but his legacy is alive and well at the Disney parks!

Until next time…

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