Hi all,

I thought the group would like to see this:

http://propstore.auctionserver.net/view ... id%2F38%2F

Greg Cannom worked closely with Rick Baker (as did Rob Bottin) on creating the first-film touring helmets in 1978. This is from the same run of castings as the ones that went on to be finished and used. As you can see, this one was never finished though clean-up work was done.

Best,
Brandon

Very cool and interesting. I've received the catalog with the newsletter.

Yup. Pretty cool. I was considering bidding on the auction, but I forgot how quickly screen used and production made and tour stuff goes up in price. LOL.

Thanks for taking the time to post these Brandon

Looks very nice - but am wondering when they bolstered up the front lip of the helmet/ dome. That portion does come out of Rick Baker mold thinner than that and less boxed off.

Just curious is all. Obviously they worked on it and never finished it.

Yes very nice and tempting...too bad some work was done on the casting...

Wow, $11,600 final auction sale price. I could understand based on the provenance but considering it was cleaned up, not so sure. It is an early pull, however. Incidentally the SL ANH is from the same mold just around 10 years later and isn't cleaned up. So I guess from that point of view it is nice to see that earlier pull fetch a decent price.

Interesting price indeed. $11,600! Now i need to look at the prices of the other sold items

And for something that looks like a good fan made helmet, very cleaned up, with no tabs, a sunken chin triangle (where most of the great Vader masks are flush) and any previous details sanded out too.

All of a sudden the value of an SL or a T M is now even higher (in my mind). The only thing that could hold our helmets back is provenance, but an SL is better than that auctioned piece.

Remember, with these things it isn't just the item the buyer is bidding on. It is the history, pedigree, and the owner(s). It is why even something you can buy at a dollar store can go for a lot more depending on what movie, who used it in the movie, what production, creator and such. That's the difference between what we collect and what the collectors for these kinds of things go for. It really doesn't raise the value of the SL or TM, because they do not have the same kind of pedigree to collectors. They'd likely be seen as *meh* curiosities from eBay sales.

And the sunken in chin vent is accurate for casts out of the RB tour mold.

True, although there is far more detail on the SL and TM.

So the sunken chin vent would suggest it's from a later mould than the SL or TM came from.

Err... no. It's from the mold the SL came from. The US Rick Baker mold that was made to create tour helmets. The TM is from a different mold lineage.

Oh. okay. I thought the SL had a flush chin vent, I was incorrect

The screen used prop collectors are not truly interested in all the details their helmets, models or props have. They don't mind paying tens of thousands $ or even hundreds of thousands $ for, like you said, the pedigree of that item, which has been seen on screen. But they do not scrutinize their stuff with the eyes of some of the prop replica collectors, especially the "rivet counters" like us