A piece of Dungeons & Dragons history just changed hands. The original cover painting for The Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album from 1979 sold for $57,500 at Heritage Auctions on April 4, in their Comic Cover Art Showcase Auction.
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See how it worksThe painting is the work of Greg Irons, an artist best known for animating on the Beatles' Yellow Submarine and for his role in San Francisco's underground comix scene alongside Robert Crumb. Irons worked across posters for Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium, album covers, and publications for Last Gasp and Print Mint before turning to tattoo art in the 1980s. He died in 1984 at just 37, struck by a bus in Thailand while studying tattoo traditions.
The coloring album itself is a deep cut from D&D's earliest commercial days, published when the game was still finding its way from niche hobby to cultural phenomenon. Irons' wraparound cover, painted in acrylic on oversized illustration board measuring 32 by 21 inches, captures the scrappy, hand-drawn energy of that era.
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Set up your group for freeFor collectors, the price tag signals growing demand for original D&D art from the game's first decade. Heritage Auctions has become a regular destination for tabletop memorabilia, and with D&D's 50th anniversary celebrations still fresh, pieces from the 1970s carry extra weight. Whether you're a collector or just curious about D&D's scrappy early days, $57,500 is a reminder that the hobby's roots have serious value.
