James Bond memorabilia causes a stir as values appreciate

From original costumes to posters, books and even toy cars, virtually anything related to the 007 franchise has seen its value rise over the years - reports The Telegraph.

He’s back. And so too is the media circus that is helping Bond props, posters and books to become among the most sought after movie memorabilia on the market.

The buzz that surrounds Daniel Craig’s arrival onto cinema screens in Quantum of Solace later this month is predicted to do as much for the value of Bond collectables as it will for box office receipts.

From original costumes to posters, books and even Dinky cars, virtually anything related to the 007 franchise has seen its value rise over the years.

The iconic 1965 Aston Martin DB5 used in Goldfinger, complete with high-tech gadgets, became the most expensive piece of Bond memorabilia two years ago when it fetched more than £1.1m at auction.

First editions of the early Ian Fleming novels meanwhile can fetch £25,000 at auction these days. But items do not have to be four decades old to be valuable. Original Casino Royale posters already go for £50, just two years after the movie came out.

“Demand for anything Bond is relentless and Fleming has been consistently our biggest selling author,” says John Gilbert, a Bond specialist and manager of Adrian Harrington Rare Books. “As each new film comes out, so the interest in the public is reignited. Tolkien went up when the Lord of the Rings trilogy was out at the cinema but is experiencing a dip right now. Bond on the other hand continues to attract interest.”

“Even after Octopussy, when the Bond franchise got tired, it was revived and has come back to its former glory,” says Neil Palmer, manager of The Cinema Store. “That is why interest in Bond is not going away.”

Costumes and props are not surprisingly the most valuable pieces of Bond memorabilia. Ten years ago Oddjob’s steel-rimmed bowler hat, from the 1964 film Goldfinger, went for £62,000. And even something as seemingly mundane as a pair of brown brogues, immortalised in celluloid by Pierce Brosnan’s Goldeneye Bond, fetched £1,000 at Christie’s 10 months ago.

If and when they ever come to market, Daniel Craig’s blue swimming trunks are sure to command a high price at auction.

When buying anything that has actually been used on set it is crucial to make sure not only that it is genuine and hasn’t been stolen, but that you can prove the fact to someone else if and when you come to sell it. “For props and costumes you need cast iron provenance for it to have any value,” says Stephanie Connell, entertainment specialist at Bonham’s, the auction house. “This should be some form of certification of authenticity that explains who the person is who is selling it and why they are entitled to sell it.”

Ursula Andress had no such problems explaining the authenticity of the famous Dr No bikini, which she found in her cupboard in 2001 and sold for £41,125. More typical provenance is the certificate from costumiers Angels given with the dinner jacket worn by Sean Connery in Thunderball, which went under the hammer last year for £28,000.

Not all Bonds are equal, and the value of memorabilia in part reflects the public’s appreciation of for the actor’s depiction of the role. “When it comes to the value that the actor adds to collectables, Connery is of course king, followed by Roger Moore and then Daniel Craig,” says Palmer. “Piers Brosnan, Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby all come in a fairly equal fourth, although genuine items from 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Lazenby’s only outing as Bond, are collectable because of their age and rarity.”

Roger Moore era items are generally less valuable than Connery’s, although a navy battledress jacket worn by him in The Spy Who Loved me did fetch £11,700. “This is still a lot of money, but if it had been Sean Connery it would have been worth a lot more,” says Connell.

When it comes to Bond books, the older the better. Casino Royale, the first of the novels, published in 1953, is the most sought after. Top examples can easily go for £25,0000, and with an inscription from the author inside, can achieve a lot more.

Arguably the most celebrated Bond novel inscription is on the copy of Moonraker that Fleming gave to the American ornithologist James Bond, the man from whom he borrowed the name of his fictional hero. Inscribed ‘To the real James Bond from the thief of his identity,” the book would command a price today of around £50,000 according to Gilbert.

Condition is paramount when it comes to Fleming books, says Gilbert. The later books were as common as Stephen King novels are today, and a well-worn later edition of one of the more celebrated titles will be worth no more than a few pounds. All first editions, however, are valuable. “All Flemings books were published by Jonathan Cape, London, so this is the name you need to look out for. Watch out for any reference to Book Club or Charing Cross editions as these came later,” says Gilbert.

Second editions of the earlier novels also command decent prices. A second edition of Live and Let Die, for example, will cost around £500 from a dealer, while a first edition will go for £10,000. At auction, prices are around half this level.

Anyone with old Bond toy cars knocking around the house should make sure not to give them to a jumble sale as they too can be valuable. A toy Aston Martin from the 1960s could fetch up to £200 if it has still got all the bits and you have the original box. Similarly, a boxed Lotus from The Spy Who Loved Me will fetch up to £150. “The value is in the packaging,” says Palmer. “Having the car in the box will increase its value tenfold.”

Original film posters, particularly from the early films, have soared in value in recent years. Autographs have grown in value too. “Any original poster with Connery in it is valuable,” says Palmer. “1960s posters can go for between £4,000 and £6,000 if they are in good condition whereas original Roger Moore era posters on the other hand will be worth perhaps just £150. In the 1980s you could buy a Goldfinger poster for £300 – today it will be worth 10 times that figure.”

According to Keith Hester of specialist insurance broker Stackhouse Poland, many movie posters have multiplied in value by up to ten times over the past five years, with poster prices typically depending on film title, rarity, condition and nationality. One Stackhouse Poland client counts the complete collection of original UK posters from the James Bond series as part of his valuable poster collection.

“This particular client bought an original UK Dr No poster - the first in the series - for £2,000 in 2004,” says Hester. “In March this year a similar copy was sold at Christies, fetching a record £9,000 for the poster. Our client also has an extremely rare copy of the advance poster for From Russia With Love which was only used at the 1964 Leicester Square premiere, currently valued at around £10,000. A pair of large display posters for Thunderball, used only at the premieres and the only ones known to exist, could be worth between £20-30,000."

But despite the seemingly crazy prices being paid today, no-one should get carried away with the apparently unstoppable rise in the value of James Bond collectables. Auction house prices depend very much on whether or not committed collectors are there on the day of the sale and dealers will always charge the public more than they would pay for an item. And if you are selling it in an auction house, don’t forget they will usually take between 8 and 20 per cent as vendor’s commission.

What’s more, Bond memorabilia, as with all esoteric assets, may not prove immune to the tightening of belts that has followed the credit crisis. Just two days after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15 a Christie’s sale of vintage film posters saw a number of lots go unsold.

Where Bond collectables do stand apart from their peers however is in the way they benefit from the marketing of a brand new movie every two or three years.

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