Friday, May 29, 2015

Disneyland Ashtrays by Eleanore Welborn

I love vintage Disneyland souvenirs, but, in general, they are nearly always too expensive to ever be something I could truly hope to collect. (Although I have been lucky a couple of times at thrift stores,
when I found the items I wrote about in this post .)
Today, I'm writing specifically about vintage ashtrays from Disneyland  made by Eleanore Welborn.
This wonderful example of a larger-sized one recently sold for $214.45 on eBay:
The smaller sizes seen in the next photo are a bit more common, measuring approx. four inches square or less:
There were different ones for every "Land" at the park, and also for Main Street, USA:
 Here are two examples of back stamps from some of the ceramic items produced for Walt Disney Productions - I believe these ashtrays, plates and other similar souvenirs were offered for sale only at Disneyland, and most likely back in the late 1950's.

They're pretty cool, and - you know - small collectibles don't take up too much space!
Speaking of space - we have Tomorrowland (I want to see that movie, by the way!):
And we have Fantasyland, in pink:
The last one I'm showing you, below  is the only one I actually own.
I felt VERY lucky, indeed when I found it years ago at Dandelion Days in Jackson, California ....
.... for three dollars.
Score!
I may never find another, but I treasure this one - and you never know what you might find, right?
That's what "the thrill of the hunt" is all about, after all.


6 comments:

  1. "It's Dandelion Days" la de da da da... Miss that. I am glad you found your ashtray! I collect old ones from El Dorado County and it is a lot of fun, and you are right, they don't take up much space. They also never get used! I would love to have a Disneyland one! Love T

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  2. Nice ashtrays!!! I saw Tomorrowland on Monday, it was great!!!!

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  3. Cool ashtrays but does anyone smoke anymore? Not me! I quit six years ago finally. My favorite one is the pink one!

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  4. Thank you SO MUCH for this post. I have the SAME Adventureland ashtray and I am taking it to Antiques Roadshow on Saturday...so hopefully I can find out how much it is worth. We are ashtray twins!! I got mine for less than $10 at an estate sale in the middle of Missouri! If it is worth anything I will be sure to return and let you know :-)

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  5. Emily B.: Hey, Ashtray Twin!! I can hardly wait to find out what Antiques Roadshow has to say about "our" ashtray!.
    Please do let me know! I'm so glad you found my post, and thank you so much for commenting!
    Heidi

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  6. I have a pink ashtray with Tinkerbell flying over the Main Street sign from 1956 by Eleanor Welborn. I can't find an image of it anywhere...do you have ant information about it?

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