The original 1969 Alice in Wonderland suite(with 13 original Dali watercolors) was an ultra-exclusive luxury book project published by Maecenas Press/Random House. Only 2,700 copies existed globally.By the 1980s, these sets had become so rare and expensive that a broad base of collectors could not access them.
In 1969 Werbungs Und Commerz Union owned these 13 original Salvador Dalí watercolors. Werbungs sold Maecenas the specific right, title, and interest to produce and market exactly “two editions” of books. These original multi-party contracts granted the publishers long-term rights to utilize Dalí’s illustrations for various secondary media formats, book club distributions, and print impressions. Maecenas Press was the official publisher of record for the 1969 masterpiece edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Dalí hand-signed the frontispiece in pencil during his lifetime.
In The Collector’s Guild acquired those exact rights from Maecenas Press via a legal assignment. This is the mid-1970s transaction that transferred the old 1969 legal paperwork directly into the Guild’s possession.
After sitting on the contract for nine years, the Collector’s Guild used those inherited files to launch the massive, standalone Alice in Wonderland print collections, an unframed Levine & Levine / “Dali Edition” Version and a ‘high-end’ version with American Express. As the sole commercial art wholesaler supplying the program, the Guild pitched the Alice in Wonderland suite to American Express as a high-end luxury product including a “live signature” claims and the accompanying guarantees of authenticity originated completely with the Guild and its internal verification arm.
Because Dalí was no longer physically producing new masterworks, the art world shifted toward translating his existing intellectual property. In his highly popular 1969 Alice in Wonderland gouaches; publishers recognized a massive, untapped retail demand.
In 1984, a selected group of four specific subjects from the Alice suite was distributed as a specialty fine art marketing campaign through American Express. These were officially sanctioned, limited-edition lithographic reproductions distributed directly to cardholders. Popular single plates found from this specific 1984 run include Down the Rabbit Hole, The Queen’s Croquet Ground, Advice from a Caterpillar, and The Lobster Quadrille.
Unlike the massive unnumbered runs of standard club prints, these special 1984 portfolio pieces were heavily restricted. Collectors frequently encounter a premium tier hand-numbered in Roman numerals up to 300 (e.g., I/CCC to CCC/CCC), alongside wider numbered editions out of 2,400 or 2,700. Shipped to buyers pre-matted and framed in massive heavy-set formats (up to 34″ x 41″). The prints and presentations were of gallery quality.
In their direct-mail statement inserts and marketing catalogs, American Express claimed they were selling “investment-quality original prints” that were officially hand-signed by Salvador Dalí. The promotional campaign was carefully crafted to convince high-tier cardholders that they were participating in an elite fine art offering.
It turned out to be wrong…
When the deception began to unravel in the mid-1980s, American Express executed a swift legal pivot to insulate themselves from liability.
Early on, when cardholders wrote in questioning the authenticity of their Alice prints, American Express customer service sent letters firmly guaranteeing that the works were fully original, legitimate, and investment-grade. As the broader Dalí forgery epidemic hit mainstream news, American Express’s tone changed. Their letters began to waffle, backing away from strict authenticity guarantees while explicitly refusing to accept corporate responsibility for the vetting process.
American Express then publicly maintained they were “fooled” alongside their customers. Subsequently, American Express corporate lawyers aggressively cooperated with federal investigators, effectively shifting sides to join the government’s action against their own supplier, the Collector’s Guild.
So, what was American Express deception?
American Express literature marketing literature relied on distinct deceptive claims:
Direct Artist Involvement: The materials heavily implied that Dalí was directly involved in the curation, execution, and final oversight of the portfolio.
The “Live Signature” Illusion: AmEx marketed the prints with the clear implication that Dalí had hand-pencil signed the editions. In reality, the signature was chemically etched directly into the printing plate (a plate signature). As noted by federal judge Pierre N. Leval during the ensuing legal fallout, the prints were sold as if Dalí signed them, “whereas in fact Dalí never saw them or even knew they were being printed.”
Rarity and Financial Appreciation: The catalogs framed the Alice in Wonderland suites as highly valuable, appreciating luxury assets.
This aggressive premium framing is precisely what triggered the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) crackdown and forced American Express to distribute $2.5 million in full refunds once the broader public realized the “investment originals” were actually late-era mass market commercial reproductions.
In 1989 once Werbungs discovered the massive, unauthorized print run, they sued the Guild and won a multi-million dollar verdict that completely shut down the Collector’s Guild operations.
The Collector’s Guild’s downfall was that they mistook their narrow production license for absolute intellectual property ownership.
Their legal team argued that a vaguely worded clause in the secondary 1969 contract meant Werbungs had permanently abandoned its rights. The federal courts rejected this completely, ruling that Werbungs never gave up its core ownership. Because Werbungs owned the core rights, the Guild had no legal standing to strip the artwork out of the books, make standalone prints with American Express, or profit off Dalí’s imagery independently.
To clear up how these three versions connect, they are all the exact same paper. They were all printed from the exact same plate matrix by the Levine & Levine workshop in 1984. The only thing that changes are how they were framed, labeled, and sold to the public.
The breakdown of the three formats shows how they were distributed:
1. The American Express Version
- What it is: The Collector’s Guild used the Levine & Levine print shop to run the paper. The Guild then took those specific prints, custom-framed them, and shipped them directly to American Express cardholders.
- The Identifier: The back of the frame features a large “Société de Vérification” label that explicitly mentions it was custom-framed and registered for members of the American Express fine art program.
2. The Standalone Collector’s Guild Version
- What it is: These are from the exact same printing batch, but they were sold directly through the Collector’s Guild’s own internal mail-order catalogs, bypassing American Express entirely.
- The Identifier: The back of the frame features a standard, standalone Collector’s Guild, Ltd. Certificate of Authenticity label that lists a registry portfolio number but contains no reference to American Express.
3. The Unframed Levine & Levine with Blindstamp/ “Dali Edition” Version
- What it is: These are the loose, raw sheets that completely bypassed the Collector’s Guild framing facility. They were distributed as wholesale gallery inventory to other 1980s art dealers (like Martin Lawrence Galleries) to be sold as un-framed art stock.
- The Identifier: Because they were never framed by the Guild, they do not have any corporate labels on the back. Instead, the proof of their origin is right on the front of the paper margin—stamped with the colorless, embossed Levine & Levine dry workshop stamp (often alongside a “Dali Edition” mark)