40,000-Piece Hollywood Memorabilia Collection Discovered in Storage Locker to be Auctioned Oct. 29

ORANGE, Calif., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A mammoth collection of important entertainment memorabilia purchased sight unseen at a storage-locker auction will be sold Oct. 29 at Don Presley's auction gallery in Orange, California. The 40,000-piece collection containing motion picture and TV memorabilia; original animation art and other prized entertainment collectibles is described by auctioneer Presley as "the find of a lifetime."

Presley is producing the auction together with Dave Hester (Dave Hester Auctions) and celebrity auctioneers Dan and Laura Dotson. The Dotsons, owners of American Auctioneers, are nationally known as emcees of the hit TV show Storage Wars. Hester is also a regular on the show.

Presley said the collection is one of "tremendous quality and value." He described the consignors as "two hard-working business partners who regularly attend storage-locker auctions, and who never expected to end up with a bonanza like this collection."

Storage-locker auctions can be a huge gamble, Presley said. "You might end up with something genuinely valuable or you might pay thousands of dollars for boxes of old office files that have to be hauled away at your own expense. In this case, the buyers hit the jackpot, fair and square."

The prior owners of the collection, who are well-known motion picture industry executives, amassed the remarkable trove over several years. The goods were neatly boxed and kept in a locked storage facility, but when the rent on their storage unit fell seriously into arrears, the contents were deemed "abandoned" and sent to a storage-locker auction.

The collection has been apportioned into 400 group lots of movie memorabilia, props, costumes, posters, scripts, movie production items (including Disney and Bollywood), thousands of Disney animation production cels, original Tim Burton art, publicity photos and many autographed theatrical posters and artworks. A specialty collection of Wizard of Oz memorabilia spans the entire 20th century.

A premier item is the Disney Studios Story Department microfiche archive containing over 200,000 pages of story submissions, comments, story analyses and interoffice communications.

Additionally, the collection features Star Wars and Star Trek memorabilia, thousands of pieces of Japanese animation art, including original paintings from manga and sci-fi legend Go Nagai; and fantastic concept art by Mark E. Rogers (The Runestone).

All forms of bidding will be available for the auction, including live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers.com and Proxibid.com.

Online: www.donpresleyauction.com.

SOURCE Don Presley Auction