By Intelligent Collector Staff | November 5, 2025
Frank Frazetta’s A Princess of Mars realized $1,437,500 at Heritage Auctions on Nov. 4, leading an Illustration Art auction that reached $3.8 million. It was Heritage’s highest total for a dedicated auction in the category since 2010 and the second-highest Illustration Art total in its history.
Painted in 1970, Frazetta’s work illustrated Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Martian fantasy world and occupied the top position in a sale that ranged from Golden Age illustration to science fiction, children’s literature and contemporary fantasy.
Three works each realized $87,500. Among them was Chesley Bonestell’s Space Station Under Construction, an example of the artist’s influential vision of space exploration, and a group of Ernest Howard Shepard’s Winnie-the-Pooh cover and interior studies.
The auction also produced new artist records. Gerald Brom’s The Last Note, created for a 1998 Dragon Magazine cover, realized a record $32,500. Edward Sorel’s 1996 New Yorker cover Christmas Past, Christmas Present reached $15,000, another artist high.
Nearly 1,904 bidders participated in the 457-lot auction, which achieved a 99% sell-through rate. The breadth of competition points to an Illustration Art market that increasingly recognizes publication history, original-use context and distinctive imagery alongside traditional measures of fine-art quality.
For collectors, artists’ estates or longtime owners considering a sale, Heritage Auctions is the best place to sell illustration art. Its specialists can connect an original work to its publication history while presenting it as art in its own right to a broad collector audience.
Source: Heritage Auctions press release, “Heritage’s Nov. 4 Illustration Art Auction Achieves $3.8 Million, the Category’s Best Result in More than a Decade” (November 5, 2025).