We’ve been collecting you, Mr Bond: the most sought-after items in the 007 memorabilia market
Have you seen it? In a plot twist that would please Ian Fleming, it appears that a James Bond Aston Martin DB5, fliched from a Florida airfield in 1997, has re-surfaced – in the Middle East.
Once driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger, the £18.2 million vehicle – complete with ejector seats, machine-guns and tyre-shredding blades (or at least prop versions) – has been located by a private investigator, according to The Most Famous Car In The World, a new podcast hosted by Elizabeth Hurley. Though Christopher Marinello is cagey about its exact location for fear of compromising its recovery, the stolen car casts a spotlight on the vast, shady and downright-strange market in Bond collectibles.
“Unlike the other big movie franchises, Bond collectibles benefit from the marketing of a new movie every two or three years,” says film memorabilia expert and former Christie’s auctioneer Sarah Hodgson. “Generations and generations have now seen the movies, making their blend of spies, women, gadgets and fast cars irresistible. Which is why practically anything related to the Bond franchise has risen in value – and especially over the last two decades.” And it really is "practically anything"…
The Swimwear
Today’s savvier movie companies painstakingly catalogue every prop or costume for auction later. But early Bond films were more slapdash – hence why, in 2001, Sarah Hodgson received an unexpected phone call at her desk in Christie’s. “It was Ursula Andress herself,” she recalled. “She’d come across her famous white cotton bikini from Dr No in the bottom drawer of her wardrobe, and wondered if it was something Bond enthusiasts might be interested in.”
The two-piece certainly was: it was sold at Christie's for £41,125 in 2001, and later went under the hammer in 2020 for an estimated £360,000. These high prices were testament to that most prized asset in memorabilia – cast-iron provenance. “She explained it was constructed from an old set of her own bra and knickers,” says Hodgson. “So we could be absolutely sure it was authentic – and also unique.”
Without a certificate of authenticity, however, other props have fallen foul. Lace underwear allegedly worn by Shirley Eaton in the famous gold paint scene in Goldfinger was valued at just £300 – because it was not possible to prove they were genuine Bond articles.
And yet the appetite for clothing that has been in contact with famous nether regions has not abated. In November 2012, the three-piece white La Perla bikini worn by Izabella Scorupco's character Natalya Simonova in 1995’s GoldenEye sold for £2,100, double its estimate.
Meanwhile, the infamous pair of navy and powder blue shorts – size large and made in Italy by La Perla – worn by Daniel Craig in 2006’s Casino Royale as a tribute to Andress, sold for £44,450. Only one other item of cinematic swimwear has eclipsed that: Princess Leia’s slave bikini, as worn by Carrie Fisher in Return Of The Jedi, which sold in 2016 for $96,000 (£63,220).
The Suits
Other clothing items, however, highlight another key factor in Bond memorabilia: which 007 is best? “For collectors, anything from the Lazenby, Dalton or Brosnan era of films is definitely fourth tier,” says Natalie Downing, a former entertainment specialist for Bonhams auctioneers. “After that comes Roger Moore, but Daniel Craig has been the real surprise – anything associated with his films is highly sought after.”
The popularity is reflected in the prices. A pair of Brosnan’s brown brogues from GoldenEye fetched just £1,080 at Christie’s in 2009, for example, whereas a navy battledress jacket worn by Moore in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me fetched £11,700. But then a simple navy woollen suit worn by Daniel Craig in 2012’s Skyfall – expected to raise just £3,000 – eventually went for £46,850.
King of the Bonds, however, is Sean Connery. “He was the first Bond, the best Bond,” explains Sarah Hodgson, “and the mix of rarity, age, and nostalgia for that era adds enormous value. Back in the 1998 we sold a blue overcoat of his from Dr. No for around £7,500. But today, that would go for considerably more.”
The Props
Almost as good as something worn by 007 is something held by 007. And perhaps it should come as no surprise what the most collectible props are. “Guns,” says Sarah Hodgson. “All deactivated before sale, obviously, but they always sell very well.”
The surprising part, however, is that they don’t necessarily have to feature in the movies to reap high valuations. For example, the Walther pistol cradled seductively by Sean Connery on the poster for 1963’s From Russia With Love sold for a colossal £277,250 in 2010, despite the fact it never actually appeared in the film. Indeed, it only appeared in the poster because no one remembered to bring the official Walther PPK to the photoshoot, so the photographer used his own air-pistol. And in 2015, Bonhams sold a Golden Gun from the 1974 film for £3,125 – despite it being a replica.
Other props at least have screen-time to their name. The original prop Solex Agitator used by Christopher Lee’s Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun was a key plot device and seen throughout the film – it sold for £55,250 in 2012. A titanium Omega Seamaster watch, glimpsed briefly on the wrist of Daniel Craig in Skyfall, sold for £157,250 in October 2012 – before the film was even released. And perhaps most famous of all: Oddjob’s steel-rimmed bowler hat, from the 1964 film Goldfinger, went for £62,000 in 2006.
Not all sought-after props need to be weapons. A poker table glimpsed at The One & Only Ocean Club in Casino Royale proved to resonate with fans of Bond’s gambling habits. Estimated at £5,000, it eventually sold in 2012 for £85,250 – although it did include a collection of prop poker chips, money and playing cards.
The Official Paperwork
Oddly for a film franchise based around action, sex and excitement, boring old paper seems to be a key collectible for 007 fans – from a letter knife and prop envelope from M's desk in 2008’s Quantum of Solace (£7,500) to the orchestral score for Skyfall’s theme song, signed by the track’s singer Adele and co-writer Paul Epworth (£13,750).
Some are more inherently interesting: “In 2014 [Bonhams] sold an original script of Goldfinger for £6,250,” recalls Natalie Downing, “that came complete with dope sheets detailing the production requirements, so it gave a great insight into the making of the film.” And some are really not: a set of faded press releases, detailing 1963’s From Russia With Love, still managed to fetch a cool £1,250 in 2010.
Ironically, it's one of Bond's mass-produced marketing tools that has seen perhaps the biggest rise in value over the years: the humble one-sheet. Posters advertising the first Bond outing, Dr No, could be bought for as little as £200 just 15 years ago – now they go for between £3,000 and £8,000, depending on condition. And age is not necessarily a pre-requisite: original Casino Royale posters from 2006 already go for over £150.
And in case you’re wondering: Ian Fleming’s original novels are also lucrative – especially first editions, which can fetch upwards of £30,000. The first novel Casino Royale, published in 1953, is the most desirable, but beware – only those from original publisher Jonathan Cape, London are considered “authentic”. And the rarest? A copy of Moonraker that Fleming gave to the American ornithologist James Bond – the man from whom he stole his fictional hero’s name – with the inscription “To the real James Bond from the thief of his identity.” Today, that would be worth £70,000-100,000.
The Cars
And yet perhaps the most prized possessions among 007 hunters are the cars Bond drives – and of any size. Seek out any old Bond toy cars you may have gathering dust in your house: a toy Aston Martin from the 1960s could fetch up to £200, provided it comes with the original box it was sold in. And the price goes up with the size. In 2012, an Aston Martin DB5 used in the filming of Skyfall raised £61,250 at auction. But even Nick Nack might find it hard to drive that one: it was a one-third scale model, used as a substitute in the film’s climactic fiery shootout to protect the rare, full-sized DB5.
When it comes to the real full-scale versions, it appears that prices have no limits – and again, the Bond who drove the car determines the value. From the Brosnan era, a pre-production replica BMW Z8 Roadster driven in The World Is Not Enough more than doubled the pre-sale estimate to sell for £85,250 in October 2012.
An Aston Martin 6 Litre V12 DBS, meanwhile – a two-door coupé driven by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace – fetched £241,250 just moments later. The most versatile Bond car, the amphibious Lotus Esprit famously driven by Roger Moore in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, was sold for £550,000 in September 2013. Pleasingly, the purchaser was the billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, as close as we can get to a Bond character in real life.
So what's the most prized Bond collectible of all? Why, nothing less than the iconic silver Aston Martin DB5 used in 1964’s Goldfinger and 1965’s Thunderball. For sale with most of the original Bond gadgets intact, such as front and rear rams, front wing "machine guns," and – squeal – an ejector seat button, it unsurprisingly set a new record when it sold in 2010 for £2,912,000. And again in 2019, when it sold for £5.2 million in 2019, becoming the world's most expensive DB5.
That auction was exciting enough, but what really set Bond collectors aquiver was the revelation that there were actually two Aston Martin DB5s used in the films. For decades, its whereabouts have been the biggest mystery in the Bond memorabilia world – one that, thanks to private investigator Christopher Marinello, may finally be solved.
