Price Guide Update and the Disneyland RR

A super quick post today to say that I have totally redone the price guide format based on input from another collector (which I agreed with…thanks Tom!).  I think this method more accurately captures the nature of variability in the hobby…but still preserves the idea of “guidance” that a price guide should provide.

Take a look and the linked page in the menu above and let me know what you think.  In the meantime I’ll toss up this image of NT0051…P12368…the Santa Fe and Disneyland RR.  Enjoy!

Until next time…

Blogging here and at Sundry Collectibles on comic books, vintage airline postcards, and other stuff!

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NT 0562? – Chip and Dale Squeaker

I got this card on eBay last week…perhaps you saw it there.  I had to pay for it.  It was something like $50…where as the other card the seller was selling (NT 0561 Mickey Mouse squeaker) I got for something like $20.  I received these in the mail today and decided I would put the Chip & Dale card up.  Thing is…this card is not in the Nickel Tour…at least not this iteration of it with the 01110571 number in the stamp box.

So I went to disneylandpostcards.net and….same thing…the card isn’t there either.  So…this is a fairly rare variant card, I guess.  The image was originally printed as NT0537 and then reprinted three separate times on NT0545, NT0545A and this card.  The Nickel Tour lists the Mickey Mouse card 01110570 as NT0561.  So, I guss that makes this card NT0562…which is listed as “not known” in the book.

Anyway…let me know what you think.

Until next time…

Blogging here and at Sundry Collectibles on comic books, vintage airline postcards, and other stuff!

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A-Series Prices added to Price Guide

So I took a shot at assigning values to A-Series Disneyland cards tonight.  I would be very interested to hear what people have to say.  You can find the list under the Price Guide tab above.  These cards are, in general, pretty common (like the A-3 NT 0231 card shown here), but there are a few in the set that are somewhat rare.  I have tried to capture that in the guide.

Give it a look and tell me what you think.  I plan on getting to the D-XXX cards next and then the remaining P-cards that come after the initial pre-opening cards.

Until next time…

Blogging here and at Sundry Collectibles on comic books, vintage airline postcards, and other stuff!

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More Mary Blair Cards from the Walt Disney Family Museum


My family and I took a day trip up to “the City” yesterday and on the way back I dropped by the Disney Family Museum to see if there were any interesting items that I could share.  You may recall my post from a few weeks back on the Japanese Alice in Wonderland card.  This card and the set it came from were all part of  “The Colors of Mary Blair” exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo a few years back.  Like I said before…I am not quite sure how all these cards ended up at the Disney Family Museum…but there they are.  They still have that set there, although, not the Alice card that I showed before (at least I didn’t see it).  There are about thirty some odd cards in the set including a great card of Mary herself.

In addition to these there were a few exhibit related cards that I picked up and general museum cards as well (the card of the color jars used to paint animation cells is pretty cool).

If you would like to get some of these cards, I would be happy to pick something up and send it along after my next visit.  I am thinking I may be visiting here more frequently now that my kids are getting to be older and it’s a little easier to take the time.

Until next time…

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A Start: Disneyland Postcard Price Guide

Note…I have edited the content of this post to agree with the manner in which the price guide has evolved …the jist of the post has not changed though.  I posted the first guide info on the 14th of September 2012!

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I have been thinking for sometime about generating a price guide for Disneyland postcards.  Of course, this is not something one person can do.  As an avid comic book collector, the “Bible” for that hobby is the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.  There are many advisors that contribute to the information in that book.

But not that many people collect Disneyland cards.  So…my thought was, build the guide on the web.  So, today…that’s what I am doing…or at least starting.  You may agree…you may think I am smoking something…but I would love to get your opinion either way.

Let me know what you think…I intend to keep this as a living document…occasionally adding and enhancing it based on input from the community (if I get any!).  I have also created a separate page for the Price Guide.  Formatting is a big question…as the database grows, getting it to be user friendly will be key.  But for now…it is what it is!

Until next time…

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Back to the Future of Disneyland

Every now and then on this blog I will back away from the postcards and feature other Disney related ephemera.  Truth be told, I have a lot of Disney related comic books, and a few fun items related to the parks.  Nothing too spetacular that hasn’t been seen before…but fun to break out every know and then and talk about.

Tonight I thought I would blog on this page from the 1960 guide to Disneyland.  These books are often scene for sale online and can be had fairly cheaply…but usually we only get to see the front cover scan.  In this guide, as in previous guides, there is a page on “coming attractions”.

The Haunted House was, of course, built and is now a classic at the park.  Interestingly though…it was not opened until August of 1969.

Chinatown would have been really cool, I think, but never came to fruition at Disneyland. I refer you to the Neverland Files for the history here.  It’s too bad this never happened as I think it would have added an international feel to Disneyland.  I suspect (although I might be wrong) that some of the ideas here were later used at Epcot.

Liberty Street was ultimately built at Walt Disney World in Florida…and while I have only visited there once in my adult life, I enjoyed that part of the park immensely.

As far as Adventures in Science…my Disney history isn’t that great, but I suspect that you could say this sort of got diluted and put into various exhibits and features (the Carrousel of Progress comes to mind) but, that’s all I can really think of.

Anyway…that is the magic of Disneyland.  I wonder what is coming next?  I know it is perhaps not a popular opinion, but part of me wants them to do something a little more ambitious on the land occupied by Autopia.  In our brave new world of electric and hybrid cars, it just seems a little odd to had overly choked gas engines sputtering along the tracks.

Until next time…

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A TWA card for almost $30…really?

Every now and then I like to take a look at the prices realized on eBay to see what people are paying for certain cards.  This is a pretty niche hobby, so the prices can and do fluctuate quite a bit for cards that might seem pretty common to someone who has been collecting for a while.

That was the case yesterday when I noticed that someone had paid $28.99 for a TWA card that usually gets no bids at $9.99.  I think this is indicative of new people coming into the hobby who basically have no where to go to get a sense for what is and is not rare.

One of the things I would like to do with this site is to remedy that situation.  Some cards are indeed rare.  Others, like this one, are not.  A guide to rarity would be a nice addition to the checklist, don’t you think?

As an aside…this card is one card of another entirely unrelated set.  For more, see my previous post on Sundry Collectibles.

Until next time…

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Gray Line Bus Postcard – NT 1168b

Just today I received a pile of 44 cards in the mail that I bought on eBay last week.  Looking at the cards online, there wasn’t anything tremendously special about the lot, but there were a lot of used cards and those (as I have mentioned before) are often a lot of fun.  And the lot only cost me $22…so, not a bad deal either at 50 cents a card.

One of the cards in the lot was not as I expected however.  It is not in the Nickel Tour, but is related to card NT #1168, the Gray Line bus Sleeping Beauty Castle postcard.  This card, designated NT #1168b on the Disneyland Postcards site, is of the Mark Twain boat.

The interesting thing about the card is that it clearly came out of a book since it has a serrated edge.  Anyone out there ever seen the complete book?  Did it include the Sleeping beauty Castle card?

Let me know if you have the answer to this little riddle.  It would be interesting to see this card in its original state in the book.

Until next time….

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A Rare Find – NT 321 Beaver Valley

I am excited to bring this card to you today!  I have never been to a postcard show to shop for Disney cards…the vast majority of my vintage cards have been bought on eBay, and all of my newer cards were bought in person at the parks.  In the case of this card, until I saw it on eBay the other day, I had never seen one of these for sale.  It’s strange how some cards just seem to be so much more rare than others.  I guess it’s to be expected, but part of me wonders how much of it was due to production, and how much due to the fact that the cards just never got purchased and languished away on the rack until they were tossed out.

In this particular case, I guess I can understand why someone would buy a picture of the Submarines or Sleeping Beauty’s Castle over this card.  Those are far more iconic images from the park.  This card is nice, but it isn’t a real standout image that says “Disneyland”.

Either way…I am ecstatic to have found this card!  Collecting is all about the hunt…and finding this one was a treat.

Until next time…

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Alice in Wonderland…and in the Shade

One of the things I find sort of intriguing about looking at the old Disneyland postcards is just how barren the park was in the early days.  When you go to Disneyland today, it is a rather lush oasis, with tall trees and many varieties of plants all around the place.  Being a gardener there must be a lot of fun, I imagine!

Well, one of the older cards (and there are many) that show this phenomenon is NT# 0380, card D-5 of Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland.  This ride today sits partially beneath a canopy of trees and the waiting area is nice and shady.  Not so in the 1950’s!  I can imagine that people must have baked in those little cars!

 

Compare this more recent image from Google satellite view.  There is still some exposure to the sun, but at least the line and a portion of the exterior of the track are shaded.  Much better for that hot afternoon!

Until next time…

 

Blogging here on Disney Postcards and at Sundry Collectibles on…well…sundry collectibles!

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