DALLAS, TX.- On April 5-8, in a celebration of the art and archive of Disney Legends Marc and Alice Davis and much more,
Heritage Auctions landed the highest-grossing auction ever for its beloved category The Art of Disneyland. The $3,661,619 total for The Art of Disneyland - Featuring the Marc and Alice Davis Archive Signature® Auction reflected not just a massive and total sellout event, but also the impeccable taste of Disney collectors and connoisseurs who turn to Heritage again and again for the remarkable offerings from the studio and the artists who have shaped our culture over the last century. Of the event overall, records were broken and high prices realized for original works by both Marc and Alice Davis and treasures from their personal collection, including works by Mary Blair and others, as well as unique historic works designed for and featured in Disney’s theme parks.
The auction boasted several significant collections amongst its 1800-plus lots; the marquee collection offered over the weekend and Monday was from the estate and Archive of two official Disney Legends, Marc and Alice Davis. Marc Davis (1913-2000) was one of Disney’s “Nine Old Men” — the studio’s radically gifted core animators of the 1930s through the ’80s — who got his start on Snow White in 1935, and with his breathtaking draftsmanship went on to develop and animate some of the studio’s most iconic characters, including Tinker Bell, Maleficent, Aurora, and Cruella de Vil, and to conceive of some of the theme parks’ most charming attractions. Marc’s multi-talented wife, Alice (1929-2022), was responsible for the meticulous and memorable costume designs for park attractions, among them Pirates of the Caribbean, Flight to the Moon, and notably the 1964-65 It's a Small World. As a couple in Los Angeles, Marc and Alice were generous hosts and mentors, and their collection of their own artworks makes up one of the most desirable troves of Disney material ever imagined.
The top two lots in the auction were in fact artworks created or designed by Marc Davis: An original “stretching” painting prop created for Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, which opened at the park in 1969, was based on Marc’s original concept design and fetched $90,000; and the gorgeous original watercolor and conte crayon drawing from Four Artists Paint One Tree, Marc’s original illustration from the seminal 1958 Disney television show An Adventure in Art, brought in $84,000. That one was also a record-breaker as the highest price paid for an original artwork from a Disney television show.
Other records in the auction realized via Marc and Alice include their respective Legends Award statues: Disney Legend awards are rare and bestowed on the greatest of Disney greats. Alice’s Legend award brought $21,000, and Marc’s brought $38,400. A second such honor bestowed on Marc during his astonishing 43-year career, the Mousecar Award (Disney's own version of the OSCAR® was an in-house trophy awarded in recognition of exceptional service to the company and community) also broke a record at $38,400. And on the record-breaking front, also from the Davis Archive, an original painting titled Lemonade Girl by the couple’s close friend and collaborator, the artist Mary Blair, fetched $66,000. It is the highest price realized for a non-studio artwork by Blair.
“The outpouring of love and bids for a piece of the Marc and Alice Davis Estate was strong, as one record after another was set for these two talented Disney Legend Inductees and geniuses of the art,” says Jim Lentz, Heritage's Vice President of Animation and Anime Art. “It was an honor and one of my career highlights to work with this prestigious collection.”
Original works, props and artifacts from Disney’s theme parks are perennial collector favorites, and this event was packed with some of the most memorable Heritage has ever offered. A functional audio-animatronic singing Tiki Bird from Adventureland’s famed Tiki Room, circa-1970s and a real show-stopper, sold for $60,000. Props from the Park attraction Pirates of the Caribbean were worth their weight in pirate gold, with highlights including a Park-used pirate skull prop that sold for $40,800; a Pirates of the Caribbean "Honest Marooned Pete" audio-animatronic pirate maquette that sold for $5,640; and a captivating assortment of props (booty, if you will, including coins and bones) sold for $5,520.
The impressive prices realized for Parks treasures were a hallmark of this event. Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump’s 1965 concept model for It’s a Small World, colorful and detailed and created from Mary Blair’s original sketch, went for a whopping $33,600. A Walt Disney-signed pass for Disneyland’s Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad (it also certified James Reinhold as an Honorary Vice-President of the ride) went for $26,400. One of the final attractions Walt himself supervised, the Submarine Voyage, made a splash in this event with an animatronic display of divers handling an ancient treasure chest; it sold for $18,000. A rare and vibrant early Enchanted Tiki Room attraction poster from Disneyland, examples of which were displayed near the park's entrance, sold for $18,600.
These highlights from the sold-out auction are really just the tip of the iceberg of a thrilling four-day testament to the ongoing popularity of Disney legends and classics. Disney’s artifacts — both historic and unusual — find their way to Heritage via Jim Lentz and his team’s careful and considerate expertise and enthusiasm.
Says Lentz, “Once again: If Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, this truly was the happiest auction on earth!”
