JGDB: Collecting "The Wizard of Oz"

Another popular area of collecting is The Wizard of Oz. Oz collectibles are everywhere. Unless you have money to burn, stick with the new stuff. When two areas of collecting intersect (for example, Judy Garland collecting and The Wizard of Oz collecting), prices really go through the roof! Original posters from the movie can fetch many thousands of dollars (even tens of thousands in some cases). Original lobby cards usually sell for $3000 and up. But, thankfully, there is as much new memorabilia as there is old, so you can easily start a collection just by visiting stores in your area.

I have a small Oz collection, but I don't collect seriously. I get a lot of Oz goodies for gifts, because it is the easiest Judy Garland related memorabilia to find. I have all kinds of things! Refrigerator magnets, post cards, pictures, posters, an Oz buck (see right), Christmas tree ornaments, ties, pins, keyrings, music boxes, rulers, jewelry boxes, pogs, playing cards, trading cards, telephone cards, wrapping paper, books, clocks, watches, standees, miniature standees, plates, Halloween costumes, CDs, videos, plaques, tee shirts, comic books, stickers, greeting cards, rubber stamps, snowballs, dolls, puzzles, figurines.... Did I miss something? I'm sure I did. But, you get the idea. Oz is still a very popular merchandising theme. You can find things in most video stores and many other stores as well. Hallmark seems to always have something Oz.

Beyond the Rainbow also sells some Judy Garland memorabilia, and they publish a very nice newsletter called "Beyond the Rainbow Collector's Exchange". It is interesting reading, focusing mostly on the movie The Wizard of Oz and some on Judy. Lately they seem to be focusing on the Munchkins. The newsletter contains a classified ad section which is a very good place to find other collectors who are selling goodies.

There are many web sites devoted to Oz; follow the links to the left into the world of Oz on the web. There are Oz dealers and collectors on the Internet, and at least one or two newsgroups.

A good source of original Oz memorabilia is Jay Scarfone and William Stillman. Scarfone and Stillman are acknowledged "experts" on Oz (they have written books on the subject), and have what is probably the largest Oz collection on earth! They have auctions periodically, selling off some of their duplicate material. You can contact them by writing to them via snail-mail (see left side of page for address).

I don't have much in the way of "original" Oz memorabilia. Actually, I'm not quite sure what original Oz memorabilia is. I think it is old Oz memorabilia. Anyway the best Oz collectible I have is an original Roto section from the Milwaukee Journal, dated Sunday June 25, 1939 (see right). It is supposedly the first advertisement issued for the movie. I paid $150 for it last year. Was that too much? I don't know. I was willing to pay that much for this piece, because I love rotogravures, and I will probably never see another one of these! It's really a very beautiful piece, but it's much too large for my scanner. So, I've scanned a picture of it from Scarfone and Stillman's book, The Wizard of Oz Collector's Treasury. Speaking of which, I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Oz memorabilia! It is available from Beyond the Rainbow (see above), among other places.

Original soundtrack recording

Valentine cards

Little Golden Book

An Oz buck!

"Original" Oz rotogravure