Marquee images courtesy of a very nice anony-mouse person.
(Lots of very nice people in the penny pressing world!)
The First Disneyland Penny Press Machine Marquees Also the very first penny press machines / marquees at any Disney park in the world
We are very happy to be able to share these pictures of the very first Disneyland penny press machine marquees with you. Matter of fact, because Disneyland was the first Disney Resort to have any penny presses and these were the first two, they are also pictures of the very first Disney pressed penny machine marquees anywhere in the world! According to a Cast Member working in the Electro Mechanical Shop at the time, although the two machines were ordered and setup at about the same time, the Mickey Mouse Sunburst pressed coin machine was the first to be placed onstage. Although the first two machines were not on-stage very long, they made history. Many would say that the coins these machines offered started the hobby of collecting Disney elongated coins and their signs represent the first ever on-stage Disney penny press marquee art.Today the coins from these two machines are highly sought after by Disney elongated coin collectors. Images of the first two on-stage elongated coins and others can be viewed as DL0001 and DL0002 in our Disneyland Park pressed penny collection guide. Disneyland Resort, Anaheim also introduced the first Disney pressed nickels in 1995 and the first Disney pressed dimes in 2013.
ParkPennies.com visitors sometimes comment how many penny press machine marquees have been at the Disneyland Resort over the years. So, why don't we see Disney penny press marquees offered for sale or auction more often? We are told that some years ago, "changeable" marquees with transparent overlays replaced the early hand painted permanent marquees. Therefore marquees like those pictured above were only made for a short time and in most cases, only for earlier machines / coins. Marquees made later, for newer machines / coins were often reused by replacing the overlays. Additionally, if rumors are correct, some of the early marquees might have been saved as framed art for Disney offices, keepsakes for lucky Cast Members, gifts to retirees, even discarded. Not to mention penny machine art that may still be in storage or forgotten. (We understand the marquees pictured above were saved because they were on display in a backstage (employees only) location at the Disneyland Resort.)
Over the years we have kept records of a few marquees that have been offered to the public by Disney. To date, we know of two Villains Event quarter press machine marquees which were auctioned by Disney's AuctionEars. The first marquee was offered in 2001 and described as "Disneyland Divas Event Quarter Press Sign". The second sign from the Villains Event two marquee machine was offered via Disney AuctionEars in 2002, described as "Disneyland Artifact Divas Souvenir Sign". Prices realized at that time were about $202.00 and $305.00 respectively. Additionally in 2003, a matching Villains marquee was auctioned by Disney AuctionEars for $272.00. Occasionally we are told of older marquees that have been seen at Disneyana shows or resold on eBay. But, these all are rare finds and are often quickly greeted by very enthusiastic Disneyland pressed penny collectors.