Frank Frazetta’s Defining Image of Conan Sells for Record-Shattering $13.5 Million at Heritage Auctions

By John Freeman on September 13, 2025 • ( 0 )

Frank Frazetta’s cover painting for the 1967 Lancer/Ace Conan paperback, a landmark of modern fantasy art, commonly known as Man Ape(1966), sold for a record-shattering $13.5 million including the buyer’s premium on Friday 12th September 2025 at Heritage Auctions.

We previously highlighted the sale here on downthetubes.

Frank Frazetta Conan Novel Cover Painting Original Art (Lancer/Ace, 1967)

This new world record for an original Frazetta painting follows the parade of Frazetta records set by the auction house in recent years and illuminates the ever-increasing desirability of the American artist’s works. This is currently the highest auction result for any Frazetta work and any Comic or Fantasy artwork globally.

“This is one of the most important paintings in the history of fantasy art ever to come to auction,” says Todd Hignite, Heritage’s Executive Vice President. “Frazetta didn’t just illustrate Conan — he transformed him into an icon. This result is a testament to the power and permanence of his vision and to the unmatched reverence collectors have for his work.”

The painting, consigned by the Frazetta family, sold on Friday morning in a one-lot auction – part of a sweeping three-day Comic Art summer event that wraps on Sunday, September 14. Scores of bids online preceded the live event, and the morning’s live bidding in the auction room was brief, fast and furious.

The painting’s image crystallized a literary hero and reset the expectations of popular Illustration Art. Completed in 1966 and published the following year, the oil-on-canvas masterpiece endures as one of the most recognizable of Frazetta’s Conan works and among the greatest images the artist ever produced.

A favorite of Frazetta, Man Ape had until now remained with the artist and his family since its creation, preserving an unbroken link to Frazetta’s studio.

Holly Frazetta, Frank Frazetta’s daughter and the co-founder of frazettagirls.com, says, “Our family is beyond thrilled with this incredible result – and the most gratifying aspect is knowing without a doubt how proud my dad would have been. He often talked about how much breaking records meant to him, but I don’t think he could have imagined this record!

“My daughter Sara and I are blown away by the enthusiasm Conan has generated and see the entire process as a celebration of the Frazetta legacy. We’re so grateful to Heritage for collaborating with us over many years as expert co-custodians of that legacy – their commitment has helped us realize record result after record result, and our relationship has played a huge role in continuing to expose new generations of fans to Frank’s fantastic artwork, which is the goal of everything we do. So, our sincere thanks to Heritage and congratulations to the winning bidder of this masterpiece!”

This staggering auction record joins a rich history of Heritage claiming the auction records for Frank Frazetta’s original works. In May 2019, Egyptian Queen realized $5.4 million at Heritage, setting a world and house record for original Comic Book and Fantasy Art. That record was surpassed by Dark Kingdom, which sold for $6 million at Heritage in June 2023. His drawings go for out-of-this-world prices as well through Heritage. In June of this year, a magnificent Frazetta 1954 pen-and-ink work, Famous Funnies No. 214 Buck Rogers Original Cover Art, which portrays Buck Rogers sailing through space, sold for $1,035,000.

Man Ape tops them all. “This painting by Frank Frazetta is one of the most recognizable and iconic images of Conan the Cimmerian,” says Robert E. Howard historian Mark Finn. Drawn from Howard’s tale “Rogues in the House,” the scene stages Conan’s brutal encounter with the man-ape Thak. Frazetta distilled the story into an unforgettable tableau: a barbarian warrior squared against a hulking beast, each figure modeled with authority and electrified by movement.

When Man Ape appeared on the cover of the 1967 Conan paperback reissues, it did more than sell books — it reinvented a character for a new era. “Frazetta’s covers for the Lancer/Ace series introduced a new theatricality into paperback illustration,” says Hignite. “They made Howard’s prose feel palpable to a new generation of readers, and for a huge number, these images became the stories.”

Those covers ignited a Conan resurgence in the late 1960s, sparking Marvel Comics’ long-running series and later feature films. Frazetta’s imagery, elemental and larger-than-life, redefined how the barbarian would be envisioned across all media. Posters, comic book covers and endless reproductions spread the image globally, yet the power of the original remains unique.

“Frazetta’s work continues to set the benchmark for Comic and Fantasy art at auction,” Hignite says. “We’re proud to be the auction house trusted with his legacy, and with each new record, we see more clearly just how influential and enduring his imagery truly is.”

Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

• Head over to Heritage Auctions for more information about the auction

• Pay a visit to the Frazetta Girls website, which is owned and operated by Frank’s granddaughter, Sara Frazetta

About the Author
Latest Posts

John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.