Film posters of Sean Connery as 007 fetch £14,125

They were worth just a few pennies when originally they adorned billboards and drew cinema-goers to see the Capital's latest rising star, reports the Scotsman.

It is unlikely the Bond posters outside long-gone venues such as the La Scala Electric Theatre in Nicolson Street, the Astoria in Costrophine, or the St Bernard's Picture Palace in the New Town would have warranted a second glance.

But almost 50 years on, anyone lucky enough to own to a Sean Connery poster from the time may be a little shaken and stirred to find out how much they are worth now.

Just four of the highly-prized posters, which helped make Edinburgh-born Connery an international superstar, have sold for a staggering £14,125 at auction.

One poster alone, created in 1963 for the second 007 movie, From Russia With Love, sold for £4,750 at Christie's South Kensington, in London.

The sale also featured a rare "advance" Italian poster for the 1965 film Thunderball, which sold for £4,000 - nearly double the pre-sale estimates. And a poster for the 1964 film, Goldfinger, fetched £3,250. The sale also featured another Italian poster, for the 1967 picture You Only Live Twice, which went for £2,125 - again double the showroom estimate.

A Christie's spokesman said: "The prices achieved for James Bond posters in the auction, as well as the world record price achieved for a James Bond gun in our sale last week, demon-strates the great international appeal of the Bond franchise.

"The market for James Bond memorabilia is well established and continues to grow.

"With all vintage film posters, whether film, travel or anything else, condition also strongly determines the inherent value.The use of 'advance posters', as is sometimes the same today with teaser television adverts, is to drum up hype and interest around the release of the film. The posters were used a couple of months ahead of the film release.

"They do not use any text or provide any information about the film, keeping fans guessing, but hopefully getting them excited in anticipation of finding out more."

It is not known where the posters came from although it is understood they were put up for sale by a number of anonymous owners.

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