Metallica's lead guitarist Kirk Hammett paid $1 million for Frank Frazetta's "Conan the Conqueror (Berserker)" in 2009 — a figure that made headlines at the time for being "unprecedented" for illustration art. Now Hammett is putting it up for auction with an opening bid of $10 million.

Hammett bought the painting directly from Frazetta (who died in 2010) and later featured it in his book "Too Much Horror Business." The guitarist displayed it at the Peabody Essex Museum in 2017 — not bad for what started as a paperback book cover.

Heritage Auctions has been on a Frazetta tear lately. They just sold his "Man Ape (Conan the Barbarian)" for $13.5 million in September — a record for both the artist and fantasy art in general. Before that, "Dark Kingdom" hit $6 million in 2023. 00:00/05:17

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