
Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
This auction has ended. View lot details



Sold for £5,100 inc. premium
Our Popular Culture specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialist
Head of Department
Provenance:
Acquired by the vendor when they worked at Virgin Records in Bristol.
As part of the promotional campaign for Queen's sixth studio album News of the World, a small number of display models were produced to advertise the new LP in select flagship record stores across the UK.
On the album cover sleeve and inner gatefold, 'Frank' carries the bodies of Brian May and Freddie Mercury in one hand, as John Deacon and Roger Taylor tumble from his grasp. The original artwork was painted by American Sci-Fi artist Frank Kelly Freas (1922-2005), after whom the robot was likely named. Freas had previously painted an identical anthropomorphic robot for the October 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine.