Bond author Ian Fleming`s gun up for auction this month
07-Mar-2007 • Collecting
Share the Story
The Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver was presented to Fleming by the Colt Company in 1964, the year that Fleming died, and it is thought it was made by a very senior executive at the famous firm who was also a Bond fan.
The gun is described as "highly collectable" and is expected to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000 when it comes up for auction in Bonham's Fine Modern Sporting Guns and Vintage Firearms sale on Wednesday March 28.
Fleming's life was nearly as colourful as that of his famous creation, 007. Born to a rich family, he was educated at Eton and Sandhurst, and worked as a journalist for Reuters, before later moving into banking.
During the Second World War, he worked in Naval Intelligence as commander Fleming, right hand man to spymaster Admiral John Godfrey.
At the end of the war he was sent to Jamaica, and fell in love with the country, and it became the base for writing his novels at his home, 'Goldeneye'.
He kept the Colt with him until his death the same year, and it comes with a letter of authentication. He had owned a number of Colts, and it is thought that the company might have been thanking him for referring to a Colt .45 Peacemaker in The Man With The Golden Gun, which was used my Scaramanga, the circus trick-shot artist turned KGB villain, portrayed by Christopher Lee.
The left side of the gun bears the engraving: 'Presented to Ian Fleming by Colt's Patent Fire Arms MFG. Co.', and has a two-and-a-half inch barrel, with the bore in "excellent" condition.
Bonhams spokesman Julian Roup said: "Ian Fleming took flak from critics who claimed he left Bond exposed and under-gunned with the Italian Beretta .25.
"In Doctor No, Bond abandoned the Beretta and took up a Walther PPK 7.65mm as his standard issue firearm.
"It was around the time that Fleming was writing The Man with the Golden Gun that Colt presented the .357 Magnum to him.
"But Fleming never armed his famous spy with the heavy Colt, perhaps because it would have spoiled the line of his immaculate dinner jacket, while the PPK was smaller and easier to conceal."
Discuss this news here...
