Disney's Auction of Mickey Statues at Sotheby's Raises Money for Charity

NEW YORK (Business Wire) -- Tuesday afternoon at Sotheby's, Disney raised $614,500 when 75 unique Mickey Mouse statues, designed by artists, athletes and celebrities for the celebration of Mickey's 75th anniversary, were sold at auction. A total of 50 charities will benefit from the sale, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, James Birrell Neuroblastoma Research Fund, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. Artists whose statues brought premium prices for the charities they selected included Sir Elton John ($52,000 for "Music Royalty"), Michelle Kwan ($20,000 for "Peace & Love") and Tom Hanks ($15,000 for "Space Mouse"). A number of statues designed by Disney legends were also favorites, including those created by Al Konetzni ($45,000 for "Back to School"), Lori Tyminski of Disney Publishing ($29,000 for "Funny Pages") and Tuck Morgan of Disney Consumer Products ($21,000 for "Mickey Through the Years"). Since Mickey Mouse's 75th Anniversary on November 18, 2003, the 6-feet-tall, 700 pound statues have traveled 700,000 miles across the country as the "Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" tour. The one-of-a-kind tributes to Mickey visited 14 cities and brought smiles to over 20 million people during the celebration

I spent a lot of time with these statues. I even made a video of them when I stumbled across them in Washington, D.C. this spring. I wonder how much the