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1967 DISNEYLAND PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN RIDE TREASURE CHEST WITH JEWELS VINTAGE DISNEY PROP

Currency:USD Category:Memorabilia / Movie - Memorabilia Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
1967 DISNEYLAND PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN RIDE TREASURE CHEST WITH JEWELS VINTAGE DISNEY PROP
IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO CONSIGN YOUR PROPS!

Your consignments are welcome, and very much appreciated. Based on the bulk final hammer value of your sales, I offer the following Flat Rates. This is not tiered like other companies. Where your sales end up, that is the % you pay for all sales.

10% commission over $10,000.00
15% From $1,000.00 to $9,999.99
25% From $0.00 to $999.99

The best deal is at least $1,000.00 in items, priced to sell.
Offered here is an absolutely incredible find! This artifact is The Key Piece of This Entire Auction! In fact, nearly everything else you see offered here in other lots is merely the overwhelming provenance for this lot. This Pirates Treasure Chest is arguably the single coolest theme park attraction prop ever to come to market, anywhere, at any price!

This is a vintage Pirate Treasure Chest from Walt Disney's original Pirates of the Caribbean ride and attraction at Disneyland back in the late 60's and early 70's. Measurements are about 18 inches tall, 28 inches wide, and 14 inches deep. Inside is a tray with gold coins and jewels, and a pair of pneumatic skeleton hands with the mechanical rig still intact that either jiggled or moved up and down. On one side there are holes that once held a hidden speaker. The entire chest is made of fiberglass with steel hinges and reinforcements inside to keep the shape and remain sturdy. There was once a lock latch, but it is unfortunately lost to history.
It is my opinion that the speaker holes, missing latch, and or the hands may have been the reason this particular chest was replaced on the ride. The rig inside moved them up and down, but no longer seems to work.

You can easily see that this clearly matches the more modern screen shot included in images. It is the same exact size, shape, and sculpt, but this was an earlier used chest, and not that exact one seen in the newer image.
I site the few obvious differences below, but ask yourself this valid question. If you have to produce several chests that all look slightly different from the same molds, how do you do that?
The answer is to make small changes to each, like adhere a different lock facade on the front, put the hinges on the other side, and sand off some of the sculpted in rivets or nail heads prior to painting. Makes good sense?
For anyone who may still have a shred of doubt, take a good long look at the two side by side images showing the front of one, and the side with the handle of another. This sculpt is copyrighted by Disney I am sure, so no other theme park or attraction could use one just like this.

This was removed from service by the early to mid 1970's, and has been in the same private hands of a former Disney employee ever since. Over the years it may have been rented out or re-purposed for other attractions, but looks to retain all of the original paint and appearance.

This comes not only with a hand signed LOA, but the original Stephen P. Ehlers's Disney worker ID shown as further provenance. [Yes, you get the actual ID with this!]

This piece came from the personal collection of artist Stephen P. Ehlers who worked for Disney from the mid 60's into the 70's, and also worked for Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags, along with numerous other theme parks and touring shows.