Rare Mickey Mouse money box to go under hammer

A Mickey Mouse money box that was given to a young boy almost a century ago is set to go under the hammer.

The mechanical piece of Disney memorabilia is considered extremely rare and is expected to fetch thousands at the auction in Scarborough.

Made in the early 1930s by toy manufacturers Saalheimer & Strauss of Nuremberg, the money box is one of four variants which were all produced in small numbers.

Auctioneers David Duggleby previously sold one of these items in 2021 for £5,800.

The tinplate money box, which belonged to a family in Cambridgeshire, will go under the hammer at The Toys & Models auction later, with a pre-sale estimate of £5,000 to £7,000.

Chloe Mckenna, from the auctioneers, said: "It remains in amazing condition - astonishing for a 94-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 money box 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."

Mckenna added the family had been "amazed" to learn how much it could be worth.

According to the auctioneer, only a few of these items have surfaced in auction houses worldwide over the past 25 years, each fetching several thousand pounds.

Mckenna said in 2021, a money box which had been in the family of an East Yorkshire businessman for 90 years, sold at auction for £5,800.

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