SHERMAN OAKS – A high-end Porsche or a piece of Disneyland history?

For some well-heeled Disneyland fans, that’s a no-brainer, and here’s the proof:

A 1970 audio animatronic tiki bird from the Enchanted Tiki Room sold for $154,000 at the Van Eaton Galleries auction in Sherman Oaks this past weekend.

An original skeleton prop used in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which opened in 1967, went for $129,000. One winner got a cigar store Indian that stood in Frontierland in the 1960s for $44,000.

Participants came from as far away as Florida to bid in person, while others from around the world placed bids by phone or online.

Nearly 1,000 pieces of Disneyland’s past, from 1950 to 1980, went for over $1.7 million, double the art gallery owners’ estimate.

“The ‘Story of Disneyland’ auction this weekend went beyond our expectations,” Mike Van Eaton, co-owner of Van Eaton Galleries, said. “It was amazing to see how fast and furious the bids were coming in and how iconic the magic of Walt Disney remains to this day.”

Jordan Reichek, an animator from Southern California, put the memorabilia on the block earlier this month, a collection he started about 25 years ago. He wouldn’t say how he got the items, but Disney used to throw things away until the early 1980s, and Van Eaton said the collector knew Disney workers.

Reichek said it was a bittersweet moment letting go of a majority of his collection. But he said walking around the gallery Saturday and listening to people reminisce about how much Disneyland meant to them made the process easier.

“Just seeing people be so jazzed about it and hearing their stories really made me feel great,” Reichek said.

Bidding wars over popular items were common.

A Tyco electric toy train set that sold for $40 in 1966 at a gift shop on Main Street, U.S.A, started at $800. An in-person bidder and phone bidder ping-ponged the price to $3,250.

Some items could be had for less than $200: a 1962 Disneyland souvenir plate ($175), a 1955 Disneyland coloring book ($118), and a 1959 entrance-gate notice announcing which rides were under construction ($95).

Shelby Pickett, 23, came from Florida. With a $13,275 bid, he won a July 18, 1955, opening-day guidebook signed by Walt Disney. He placed another bid for $15,000 on a 43-by-63-inch piece of brown paper that, in February 1955, showed the park’s layout. The paper went for $29,500.

Asked why he and many others would spend so much on Disney memorabilia, Pickett said:

“You can’t put a price on magic.”

Contact the writer: 714-704-3764 or jpimentel@ocregister.com