Will These Steve McQueen/Le Mans Memorabilia Items Set New Records?

It seems like collectors can’t go wrong with anything once owned, touched or glanced at by Steve McQueen. I’m sure your remember Steve McQueen’s Porsche 911S selling for $1.375 million last year at the RM auction in Monterey. What about the driving suit that McQueen’s character Delaney wore during the film? When it sold for $984,000 Hemmings opined that McQueen might just be the “latter-day incarnation of Midas”.

Profiles in History, a dealer in “guaranteed-authentic original historical autographs, letters, documents, vintage signed photographs and manuscripts” announced today that more McQueen items from Le Mans will be auctioned this July in their mega Hollywood auction.

Steve McQueen Le Mans Racing Jacket

Among the items up for auction is the jacket shown above worn by McQueen “between scenes and during idle times on the set”. Profiles in History has set the estimate on this Simpson Nomex fire resistant race jacket between $80,000 and $120,000.

Steve McQueen Heuer Monaco Watch

The Heuer Monaco watch above (Heuer didn’t become Tag Heuer until a merger that took place years after these watches were made) is one of four (three blue and one gray) supplied by Heuer for the filming of Le Mans. To date only one other has appeared at auction and it sold in 2009 for $87,600. Estimates for the Monaco presented here range from $200,000 to $300,000; a steep premium over the last sale. I asked the reason for the higher estimate and was told by the auction house’s PR firm that the provenance on this watch is “iron clad” with a notarized letter from the movie’s prop-master testifying to the fact that the watch was worn by McQueen.

Michael Delaney Team Gulf Rain Jacket

This is the original Glenoit & Lillja dark blue insulated rain jacket with gray trim featuring embroidered “Team Gulf Sweden” patch on the left chest and “Gulf ” patch on the left shoulder. Much of Le Mans was shot in the rain and McQueen can be seen wearing this jacket both on screen and between takes on the set in numerous publicity photos. It was obtained from the costume supervisor on the film who kept the jacket for the past 40 years and comes with a signed letter of authenticity from him. It is estimated to fetch $80,000 – $120,000.

Heuer “Twin Set” Stopwatches

This pair of Heuer stopwatches—Auto-Rallye and Monte Carlo models—are mounted side-by-side on a Heuer chrome backplate and were used by Steve McQueen during the making of the Le Mansto time racecars on the track. The watches come with a notarized letter of authenticity and are expected to fetch between $40,000 and $60,000

Even More McQeen/Le Mans Items to be Added

While the date for the auction has yet to be set, the press release today did allude to more items to come. When pressed for more information we were told, “There will be more McQueen items at the auction. This is what we’ve announced right now. There will be an official catalog available for download from the profiles in history website shortly.” So, keep your eyes and ears tuned, as this is one auction we can’t wait to see the results from.

Special thanks to Steven Leed of Royal Jewelers for the heads up on the auction.

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