When it comes to Hollywood’s most beloved actors, Val Kilmer is right up there with the best modern cinema has to offer. The actor’s appearances in movies like Top Gun, Batman Forever, Tombstone, and Willow earned him a place in the hearts of moviegoers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Now in a new auction, fans of the late actor can add one of his most iconic movie props to their collection, but you are probably going to need some very deep pockets to even think of being able to bid on it. As part of Goldin’s Elite Auction, the screen-used helmet of Kilmer’s Top Gun character Tom “Iceman” Kazansky is going under the hammer with a starting bid of $25,000 – but it is almost certain to sell for much more than that by the time the bidding comes to an end.
Top Gun is one of the quintessential movies of the 1980s. Released in 1988, the film was a box office success, moderate critical hit, and had a soundtrack that elevated the film’s incredible action sequences to a whole new level. The film was so iconic that almost 40 years later it is still among many fans’ top 10 lists, and the 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, has become one of the greatest sequels of all time and record-breaking smash hit in every way possible. While Tom Cruise was undoubtedly the star of the show, Kilmer’s Iceman was just as loved as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, and Kilmer’s appearance in the sequel proved that in a scene that brought many audiences to tears with its personal connection to the actor’s own health struggles in the last decade of his life. Now, fans will be showing just how much Kilmer’s legacy is worth to them by sending the price of this Top Gun prop skyhigh in the coming weeks.
Prop auctions come around every few weeks thanks to the dozens of different auction houses out there all picking up consignments from personal collections and studio clear-outs. Goldin’s latest auction includes a number of items that recently sold elsewhere and are now about to change hands again, but Kilmer’s production-made Iceman helmet is a prop that has not been doing the rounds and could be the ultimate grail for fans of the actor and the legacy of Top Gun. The lot doesn’t just include the iconic silver-gray shell with “ICEMAN” lettering and blue lightning bolts adorning it, but also comes with the original oxygen mask attachment, hose connectors, high-G suit pants, and a handwritten note from director Tony Scott, which reads, “A Top Gun gift in return for all your generosity.” Together, this makes the sale a pretty special one.
For now, the $25,000 price is a very conservative estimate of what this piece of movie history will probably fetch when all is said and done. During Propstore’s summer film and television auction in August several pieces of Tombstone memorabilia massively outsold their original estimates, including the whiskey cup twirled by Kilmer in another of his most memorable roles as Doc Holliday. That item originally had an estimate of $10,000-$20,000 but ended up selling for just under $120,000. At another Propstore auction, a similar helmet to this made for Tom Cruise’s Maverick broke through its $50,000 estimate on the way to an astonishing $333,000 sale. Kilmer’s Top Gun helmet could very easily perform a similar trick and see the price soar very quickly into six figures when the bidding really heats up. Whatever the outcome of the auction, it is impossible to deny Kilmer’s place as one of Hollywood’s most-loved movie stars, and that is something money cannot buy in the industry.
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