Top Gun became the highest-grossing film of 1986 and remains culturally influential. Goldin, a New Jersey auction house, is offering a helmet made for Val Kilmer in his role as Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, available through June 17. Bidding starts at $25,000 for the prop in Goldin’s online Spring Pop Culture Elite Auction. The helmet is an HGU-33, one of two models produced for the film by Flight Suits LTD. The listing does not state that Kilmer wore the helmet on-screen, but it likely was created for him to rehearse cockpit scenes. The helmet lacks the Flight Suits LTD label found on other examples, yet cable placement matches Top Gun gear. Period-specific Flight Suits LTD logos appear on metal plates on the accompanying oxygen mask bayonet receivers. A handwritten note from director Tony Scott is included and is being verified by a third-party authenticator.
"Top Gun blew past legends like Platoon and Ferris Bueller's Day Off to become the highest-grossing film of 1986. Its cultural legacy still stands. Red-blooded audience members with a taste for high-flying combat will be psyched to learn that a helmet made for the late actor and artist Val Kilmer in his role as Top Gun antagonist Lieutenant Tom "Iceman" Kazansky is up for grabs, courtesy of New Jersey-based auction house Goldin, through June 17."
"Bidding for the prop, which leads Goldin's online Spring Pop Culture Elite Auction, starts at $25,000. Records indicate that this starting offer is bound to climb. In 2022, for instance, Propstore sold the bomber jacket that Tom Cruise's protagonist Pete "Maverick" Mitchell wore in a deleted Top Gun scene for £50,000 ($67,535), against an estimate of £12,000-£16,000 ($16,200-$21,600)."
"Goldin's listing omits any mention of Kilmer ever wearing this Iceman helmet on-screen. But, the gear was almost certainly created for Kilmer to wear while at least rehearsing for the high-octane cockpit scenes that brought Top Gun glory. The California-based high-tech outfitters at Flight Suits LTD-today named Gibson & Barnes-produced flight suits and helmets for Top Gun. The specimen on offer at Goldin is an HGU-33, one of two models they made for the film."
"Unfortunately, this particular helmet is missing the Flight Suits LTD label found on its peers. But, as Goldin noted, the placement of its communication cable is consistent with others from Top Gun. What's more, the correct period-specific Flight Suits LTD logo appears on metal plates affixed to the accompanying oxygen mask's bayonet receivers. A handwritten note from Top Gun director Tony Scott comes with this lot; it reads "A Top Gun gift in return for all your generosity" in blue pen. According to the listing, a third-party authenticator is verifying the note's signature."
Read at Artnet News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]