How old is my Mickey?

[gizmowidget]

I have a vintage Mickey Mouse molded figure standing 6 and 1/2 inches tall that I believe dates back to the 1950's. He is fully poseable, and is jointed in six places; both legs, both arms, waist and neck. He's a classic Mickey in red shorts. The reason we think he's that old is that he is hand painted and assembled. The three stripes on each glove are delicately hand painted on and you can see the brush strokes in his red shorts. On Mickey figures from the 60's those glove stripes are molded ribs and the colors appear molded in versus painted. In fact, all seven of the molded pieces making up this figure have been hand painted. He's quite cool.

To my knowledge they haven't hand-painted Disney figures like that in nearly fifty years. We've been having a debate about exactly how old this figure really is. Are there any hardcore Mickey collectors out there who can help answer that? You can see pictures of him at cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll
ViewItem&item=6633276917&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
We appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks!!
GizmoWidget

[gizmowidget]

Well that link didn't work. Let's try this link instead:
cgi.ebay.com/1950s-Mickey-Mouse-Poseable-Figure-Fully-Jointed_W0QQitemZ6633276917QQcategoryZ1391QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
(And if that doesn't work, search eBay for 1950s Mickey Mouse Poseable Figure Fully Jointed)