11 5/8" x 17"....Compressed, Layered Cardboard....Dolly Toy Company..Walt Disney Productions...Ca. 1953

Walt Disney first brought Sir James M. Barrie's eternally youthful character of Peter Pan to animated life in 1953, and the cry of "Come on everybody--Here we go: Off to Neverland!" has become a staple of popular culture.

Directing Animator Marc Davis gave Peter's pixie friend Tinker Bell a delightfully sassy personality, all realized in brilliant mime (without a reliance on dialogue or "catch phrases"...just jingling!). Tinker Bell, of course, went on not only to become the "hostess" of the long-running Disney anthology television series, but also a Disney theme park presence, introducing nightly fireworks displays and now, meeting park visitors in her imagined home of "Pixie Hollow."

Here is a sweet and nostalgic piece from Tinker Bell's earliest Disney days. It is one piece from the Dolly Toy Company's set of children's nursery wall decor plaques based on Walt Disney's Peter Pan, part of the initial offering of merchandise created for the film's first theatrical release.

This compressed cardboard plaque features Tinker Bell leading the way as Captain Hook's pirate galleon, the Jolly Roger, flies merrily through the clouds...thanks to a healthy dusting of pixie dust! Though the ship still flies the pirate skull-and-crossbones flag, it belongs to a victorious Peter now...and he seems to have the sails monogrammed!

This large centerpiece wall hanging was no doubt originally accompanied by smaller "satellite" figures of Peter, Wendy, John and Michael to fly around it. (Dolly Toys, for years a Disney licensee, was well-known for their series of plaques for kids' rooms...their Bambi set from the early 1960s is quite frequently found by collectors today.)

This colorful plaque has seen wear and display...the mark of a well-loved children;s favorite. There are some surface scratches, and some paper loss on the scratches to the left (in the area of the green and black striped sail). There is discoloration along the white cloud edges, no doubt from the glue which "seals" the edges of the compressed cardboard together. The horizontal extremes (left and right clouds) have encountered the most bumping and wear, but since this is a neutral area of color, it is not too distracting.

Sweet and nostalgic despite its obvious history of service, this charming wall piece would still brighten the heart of any youngster who longs to fly off to a Neverland adventure...or any oldster who wishes that they had gotten the chance to before!

Playful Tinker Bell Leads The Way To Neverland

Captain Hook Must Be Long Gone...
Peter Pan Appears To Have Had The Ship's Sails
Monogrammed!