Frank Frazetta’s Conan the Barbarian Cover Art Sold for $13.5m

Frank Frazetta’s cover painting known as Man Ape for the 1967 Lancer/Ace Conan paperback sold for $13.5m in a single-lot sale at Heritage Auctions' Comics & Comic Art event. 

This marks a new record for an original Frazetta painting, and is the highest auction result for any Frazetta work and any Comic or Fantasy artwork. It was consigned by the Frazetta family.

“This is one of the most important paintings in the history of fantasy art ever to come to auction,” said Todd Hignite, Heritage’s Executive Vice President. “Frazetta didn’t just illustrate Conan, he transformed him into an icon. His covers for the Lancer/Ace series introduced a new theatricality into paperback illustration."

Completed in 1966 and published the following year, the oil on canvas work is one of the most recognizable of Frank Frazetta’s Conan works. Drawn from Robert E. Howard’s story Rogues in the House, the scene stages Conan’s encounter with the man-ape Thak.

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

Previous sales of Frazetta's original works include Egyptian Queen ($5.4m, 2019), Dark Kingdom ($6m, 2023), and . Famous Funnies No. 214 Buck Rogers ($1,035,000, 2025).