Heritage Auctions is auctioning Frank Frazetta's "A Princess of Mars," a rare second painting of the same subject by the fantasy master.  The original version of this painting was used for the cover of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter novel A Princess of Mars, published for the Science Fiction Book Club by Doubleday.  It was Frazetta's first painting for Doubleday, and as he was concerned he would not get the original returned, he painted a near-duplicate for himself, a version he preferred (the version used for the book was sold some time ago).

A Frazetta painting auctioned by Heritage ("Egyptian Queen") brought a record price of $5.4 million last year (see "Heritage Records Banner year for Comic Art and Comic Book Auctions").  "A Princess of Mars" has started considerably lower; it's at $180,000 ($216,000 with Buyer's Premium") as of Thursday, August 20.  The auction ends in 20 days.