Walt Disney Autograph, ca. 1960

Appraised on: August 4, 2012

Appraised in: Corpus Christi, Texas

Appraised by: Kathleen Guzman

Category: Collectibles

Episode Info: Corpus Christi (#1703)

Originally Aired: January 21, 2013

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (1:25)

GUEST: When I was almost five years old, my family went to Disneyland in California. My grandfather reached into his pocket and pulled out a ticket book and tore out the back coupon and handed it to me with a ballpoint pen. He said, "Go over and ask that man for his autograph." Well, okay, not knowing what's going on I did what he said, and he said, "Do you know who that was?" And of course, I said, "Well, no, I'm pretty sure I don't." He said, "That was Walt Disney." I've had it hanging on my wall ever since.

APPRAISER: What a charming story. And so here's a picture of you that day at the park?

GUEST: Yeah, it's my sister and I. We're big camera hogs, and so we had our picture taken every chance we could.

APPRAISER: Well, Walt Disney signed an awful lot of things, but mostly they were signed by his secretaries. There's an awful lot of Disney signatures out there, and mostly all of them I see at Roadshow are fake, so to see one that's actually signed by Walt and have this kind of history to them, it's just a fantastic thing. Have you ever had this valued?

GUEST: As far as value to me, it's pretty much priceless because he handed it to me.

APPRAISER: Well, you've framed it with this collector's plate, which is just a decorative value.

GUEST: Sure.

APPRAISER: But the wonderful signature is going to be between $1,500 and $2,500.

GUEST: Wow, that's really super.