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Donald Duck Victory Garden porcelain sign


dmert66
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willysmb44

WOW. I love that! Sure would be cool to run across one of those.

Wish I could find a good shot of a new condition one, as I'd love to make a 1/48 scale one for my 1943-era model RR layout!

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willysmb44

The original question was if it was real.

The problem is so many of these kinds of signs are copied or made up from the imagination of someone else these days, you could only do right with seeing a period photo of one...

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It appears to be made of metal which would give me a pause--- I believe these were made on masonite type board and fiberboard....but I don't recall seeing anywhere they were made on porcelain or metal....

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disneydave

I would say not original and reproduction.

 

Number one, way too small.

 

Number two, the brochure I've seen and my research indicates these were made of either Masonite board or heavy fiberboard (cardboard) only. The brochure made no mention of the signs available in metal or porcelain.

 

Number three, metal would have been subjected to rationing rules, hence the reason for number two.

 

Number four, the examples shown all seem to have the same damage in the same area. Makes me wonder why, if the signs were so beat-up around the edges, how come there is barely a scratch in the main image area.

 

The "real" signs are exceptionally rare. I have only ever seen a few, maybe three to five examples, in all my years of collecting and I have been at this game since 1981. The fact that so many, all in similar condition, have appeared, leads me to say they are not real examples from the war. All of the examples I have ever seen at auction have been the Masonite board variety. I think I may have seen one fiberboard example and it was rough condition if I recall. I recall paying around $125 for mine many years ago but I have seen an original sell in the $450 range. You can see the one in my collection by clicking firefighter's link to the forum in post #5 above.

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firefighter

DisneyDave lots of great information.I was thinking the same exact thing about the 'rust' damage.And for being such a rare sign the one seller seems to have a lot of them.I bid on the one now only because I'm a Donal Duck fan and figured if I could get it cheap, under $30, I would hang it on my shed.I'm surprised Disney hasn't remade these signs.

Another great reason to be on this forum.A LOT of very knowledgable collectors and dealers.

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I agree with you firefighter re knowledgeable collectors/dealers, as I have mentioned on other threads [brimfield 2016 being one], militaria isn't the only hobby I dabble in- For all the reasons Dave cited regarding the rust alone, and availability on ebay in such quantity, I too had my doubts and I took the liberty of sending a copy of the photo to a well respected dealer of signage and he got back to me within the last few moments with this reply: "repop" - I haven't seen a disney ad for one of these and have been scouring the net since this was posted to see if I could find the manufacturer, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did fabricate these as I am fairly certain they have/did fabricate facsimile WW2 Disney art within the last 20 years -patches and pins below-one marked disney catalog-and I remember correctly, they MAY have sold some of this in their Orlando downtown Disney or at the theme parks as I vaguely remember seeing at least the patches pins there many years ago

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Disney-Authentic-World-War-II-Patches-Reproduction-Goofy-NIP-/252350222002?nma=true&si=eGjwoc5TXIG2Y3zS%252BS931q48ys0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DISNEY-CATALOG-WWII-MICKEY-MOUSE-INSIGNIA-PIN-29992-LE-1500-/351686200781?hash=item51e2218dcd:g:KAQAAOSwLpdW9IkK

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Another great reason to be on this forum.A LOT of very knowledgable collectors and dealers.

 

You got that right. Thanks for everyone that commented.

 

After seeing the one on E bay posted above-the back side of this one had the exact same kind of spilled blue paint splotches. I see that one is also listed as a door push-sign. ??

This seller also had a number of license plate toppers: Exterminate the rats -but the art work just didn't look right to me. Asking price for this one and those was 150 bucks each. As much as I liked it-I've got do to some research before I shell out that kind of cash on something I'm not familiar with.

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willysmb44

The cardboard v/s metal argument is a good one, but in all fairness, I have seen signs in metal during the war you'd have expected to be made form wood or cardboard.

But yeah, looks like a repro to me as well.

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trenchrat1918

I found a blog post from toons at war and this is what they had to say. The original sign was licensed from Disney by W.L. Stensgaard and was available in two sizes and was sold in dime and hardware stores. The Masonite version was sold with a 24" stake and was printed with 6 oil colors. Wholesale was $10.80 per dozen and the retail p[rice was $1.69. The second version was 100 point fiberboard and was printed with four oil colors. The fiberboard version came with a 18" stake and wholesaled for $7.80 a dozen, suggested retail price was $1.00.

 

I would have to believe that the metal versions are modern reproductions. As has been pointed out in the previous replies the color on the metal version doesn't look quit right and none of the damage on these signs goes into the main graphics of the sign, which is very suspicious.

 

I tried to link the blog post but it is not letting me right now, the post was linked to City Farmer news and it appears that the original post on Toons At War is no longer available.

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willysmb44

Id actually bid on the one on eBya mentioned earlier, but thankfully it was far enough the ending of the listing so I could pull the bid for 'putting in the wrong amount' as I think it's been established that this is a repro.

However, with the design and how Donald is rendered, I'd bet that this was a real design for a sign in WW2...

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Brian Keith

I would think an original would have the copyright info also. It is a really neat sign. I'd pay a repo price for it, but it looks like people are paying a high price because they think it is real.

Thanks for busting this myth!

BKW

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willysmb44

I would think an original would have the copyright info also.

 

No, I have some Disney-oriented stuff that is for sure from WW2 and some of it has no copyright info at all.

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I found a blog post from toons at war and this is what they had to say. The original sign was licensed from Disney by W.L. Stensgaard and was available in two sizes and was sold in dime and hardware stores. The Masonite version was sold with a 24" stake and was printed with 6 oil colors. Wholesale was $10.80 per dozen and the retail p[rice was $1.69. The second version was 100 point fiberboard and was printed with four oil colors. The fiberboard version came with a 18" stake and wholesaled for $7.80 a dozen, suggested retail price was $1.00.

 

I would have to believe that the metal versions are modern reproductions. As has been pointed out in the previous replies the color on the metal version doesn't look quit right and none of the damage on these signs goes into the main graphics of the sign, which is very suspicious.

 

I tried to link the blog post but it is not letting me right now, the post was linked to City Farmer news and it appears that the original post on Toons At War is no longer available.

 

Toons at War- that's out moderator Disney Dave :)

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Id actually bid on the one on eBya mentioned earlier, but thankfully it was far enough the ending of the listing so I could pull the bid for 'putting in the wrong amount' as I think it's been established that this is a repro.

However, with the design and how Donald is rendered, I'd bet that this was a real design for a sign in WW2...

 

It was a real design from WW2-that's what Disney Dave is telling us- but this particular sign: size, material- BOGUS- FAKE, NO GOOD, DON'T BUY as real. :)

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disneydave

Yes, there was a real Donald Duck Victory Garden sign that was produced during WW II.

 

The repro is based on that design.

 

There is a link in one of the earlier posts on this thread that links to the real sign in my collection that is shown in the Disney section of this forum.

 

The metal signs in the eBay listings are not from WW II and they are miniature repros.

 

Toons At war was one of my Disney war-related blogs. Most of the info posted there, which has since been made invisible, is listed in the Disney forum on this site.

 

Thank you Thor! :)

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willysmb44

I'd probably buy one if I saw one for sale as a repro, for say, about 10 to 15 bucks, just to hang on the wall, as it's a really neat design.

That's what I love most about this forum, is the great exchange of info, as most of the time, SOMEONE here can ID something US-made...

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