Boris Karloff Rare Fiberglass Life-Mask Icons Prototype (With Etched Signature Plaque)

Shown here is a rare original Icons Boris Karloff (Frankenstein, The Mummy etc...) licensed Icons manufacturers prototype, produced by Icons in 1998. Unbeknown to Icons collectors, the company secured the license from the Karloff Estate for this piece and had planned to produce an extensive line of 1:1 scale life castings of Icons of Film & Television. With the Karloff Life-Mask being the first in a series.

Only "4" of these were made. One is in the collection of Sara Karloff, the three others with private collectors.

Long bootlegged (the quality often very substandard compared to this beautiful casting), Life-Masks have not been licensed to my knowledge, which makes this prototype quite scarce. It was to be the first of many licensed Life-Masks that were planned, but the collectibles company Icons closed after 5 years in business (1995 to 2000) and this Boris Karloff Life-Mask was never released or sold to the public.

Life-Masks are made in Hollywood directly off of actors faces to be used in the creation and casting of latex foam make-up appliances. Having historically been produced since the early days of make-up effects.

This one in particular was molded (or pulled) from a 1st or 2nd generation copy of an original. It is so detailed you can even see Boris Karloff's eyelashes !!
What is rare about this piece, besides being a prototype, is the fact that it is made of lightweight fiberglass (vs. plaster, which is used most often in bootlegg Life-Mask castings that are sold) and as you can see, it is a 3/4 head life-casting. Mr Karloff's ears are cast on the sides.

Go compare this Karloff Life-Mask casting to any for sale on eBay or on the Internet. There is no comparison. Most do not feature the ears, are 3rd, 4th and 5th generation copies, losing much of the detail in the facial features, forehead, scalp and neck area.
Additionally they have often been re-sculpted on important areas such as the eyebrows etc.
The condition is impressive as you can see. The burnished patina custom paint job was provided by a Film & Television painter who was a lead at Icons (either Vince Odoni or Brian Bero).

The piece features an etched plaque with Karloff's signature engraved on its surface, copied directly off of one of his original autographs.

Sadly this piece never made it to the production line and is shown here publicly for the first time. So top-secret was this project at Icons, this prototype was not shown in Icons conference room.

Icons Jim Latta recalls "Life-Mask collectors had been producing bootleg copies and selling them for many years when we secured the license from the Karloff estate for this piece. As it was, Icons had significantly taken away from the unauthorized sales of unlicensed prop replicas. It was quite obvious that if we announced the Icons Life-Mask replica line, we would have made even more enemies, so this prototype was never displayed".

A fascinating piece of Hollywood Memorabilia as well as being a rare manufacturing prototype, for an awesome and historic product line that was never released.

Here is the original (signed by Sara Karloff, the daughter of the legendary Boris Karloff and the curator of the Karloff estate) of the faxed licensing agreement issued in 1998, for this proposed product.
The document features the facsimile signature of Mr Karloff.