RECORD-BREAKING SALES OF WORKS AND AWARDS FROM DISNEY LEGENDS MARC AND ALICE DAVIS LED HERITAGE’S APRIL 5–8 EVENT, THE HIGHEST-GROSSING “ART OF DISNEYLAND” AUCTION EVER.
By Intelligent Collector staff
Heritage Auctions’
Marc Davis, one of Walt Disney’s famed “Nine Old Men,” brought to life characters such as Maleficent, Cruella de Vil and Tinker Bell, while also shaping attractions including the Haunted Mansion. His wife, Alice, a celebrated designer, created unforgettable costumes for Pirates of the Caribbean and It’s a Small World. Together, their archive represented one of the most significant Disney collections ever to reach the market.
The top two lots of the auction were both tied to Marc Davis:
- An original Haunted Mansion stretching room portrait prop, based on Davis’ design, realized $90,000.
- A watercolor and conte crayon drawing from the 1958 Disney TV program An Adventure in Art brought $84,000, setting a record as the highest price ever for an artwork from a Disney television show.
Other record results included Davis’ personal Disney Legend Award statue at $38,400 and his rare Mousecar Award at the same figure, both new benchmarks for these honors.
Alice Davis’ own Disney Legend Award statue reached $21,000, underscoring her place as a pioneering Imagineer. From the couple’s personal collection, a painting by Mary Blair titled Lemonade Girl achieved $66,000, the highest price ever for a non-studio Blair work.
“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,” said Jim Lentz, Vice President of Animation and Anime Art at Heritage.
The record-breaking Davis archive sales confirm that when it comes to offering the most important Disney artworks and archives, Heritage Auctions is the best place for consignors to achieve historic results.