'Extremely rare' 94-year-old Mickey Mouse moneybox could fetch thousands at Scarborough auction

The little mechanical marvel is a fabulously rare early piece of Disney memorabilia, made in the early 1930s by Saalheimer & Strauss of Nuremberg, one of the leading tinplate toy manufacturers in Europe at the time.

Chloe Mckenna of auctioneers David Duggleby said: “Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse in 1928, introducing him to the world in a couple of largely ignored short cartoons but then followed Steamboat Willie, the first animation film to have synchronised music and sounds.

“It was a huge hit.

"Overnight, Mickey became an international star.

“Merchandising of the character started within a couple of years and it was, by the standards of the day, very slick.

"Saalheimer and Strauss were quick to spot the potential and decided to dip their toes in the water, albeit fairly cautiously.

"They created four variants of the moneybox, with slight differences in the Mickey figure on the front.

"None of them were produced in large numbers and they are all extremely rare today.”

The example that will be going under the hammer in the Toys and Models sale on Thursday March 19 is a Type 1, which is to say Mickey is depicted with folded hands.

A motto on the reverse of the moneybox explains how it works:

‘If you only pull my ear, you will see my tongue appear.

‘Place a coin upon my tongue.

‘Save your money while you’re young.’

Chloe said: “It remains in amazing condition - astonishing for a ninety four-year-old penny tinplate novelty that in the hands of most children would probably have struggled to survive a year or two.

“That it did so is down to the fact that the small boy who was given it in 1932 loved Mickey Mouse.

"He treasured the moneybox his entire life and when he died at the age of 87 in 2011, his widow passed it on to relatives who continued to prize it as a fun family heirloom.

“They were amazed to learn just rare how much their tinplate treasure could be worth.”

On the question of value, Chloe said: “It is very, very rare, just a handful have appeared in the world’s auction rooms in the past 25 years and they have all made multiple thousands of pounds.

"We have put just one under the hammer previously.

"That was back in 2021 when an East Yorkshire businessman walked into a valuation session at our Beverley office with the Mickey Mouse that had been in his family for 90 years.

“That sold for £5,800, a result that got national media attention and it was that coverage that resulted in the Cambridgeshire owners of this second example sending it up to our Scarborough saleroom when they recently decided the time had come for their Mickey Mouse to pass on to other collecting hands.”

It goes into the Toys and Models auction, which takes place at 11am on March 19, with a pre-sale estimate of £5,000 to £7,000.

Viewing at the Vine Street Saleroom is taking place all week.

The Toys & Models auction also has an impressive collection of large Lego models ranging from the Colosseum and the Sydney Opera House to Big Ben.

It also includes a number of early 20th Century games - as well as a serious collection of 1:18 scale model cars by CMC.

Visit davidduggleby.com to see the Toys & Models catalogue.