Later this month, Christie’s will host an auction… a James Bond auction. The world-famous British art dealer/auction house’s “50 Years of James Bond” online-only sale begins September 28 and runs through October 8. An invite-only/internet auction at Christie’s South Kensington location is also for October 5, dubbed “Global James Bond Day” to mark the 50th anniversary of the first screening of Dr. No, the very first Bond film.
To commemorate the British Secret Service agent’s five decades as everyone’s favorite spy, Christie’s has 50 lots of items (40 will be sold during the online-only portion, with the remaining lots going on sale October 5) from each of the 23 James Bond films, including marquee memorabilia from 1973’s Live and Let Die, 1999’s The World is Not Enough and 2008’s Quantum of Solace.
How did Christie’s amass a collection so large that it would make Bond himself suspicious? It helps to have Eon Productions, which has produced every Bond movie, on your side.
“Christie’s is excited to be working directly with Eon Productions to present this unique auction to mark the 50th anniversary of James Bond,” Christie’s Director Nicolette Tomkinson said in an official statement. “With memorabilia offered from every official Bond film ever made, the auction is sure to appeal to new and established fans of the famous British spy. James Bond is much-loved by a truly international fan-base and we hope to make memorabilia from the 23 Bond films accessible to all.”
The auction is headlined by the 2008 Aston Martin Bond actor Daniel Craig drove through the Italian hillsides in the opening sequence Quantum of Solace. The 6 Litre V12 DBS 2-Door Coupe model is expected to attract a high bid between £100,000 and £150,000 (approximately $160,000 and $240,000), with all proceeds going towards British child poverty charity Barnado’s.
A dozen other charitable organizations will benefit from the Bond auction’s proceeds, including global youth poverty foundation UNICEF, British creative arts organization The National Youth Theatre and Tickets for Troops, which offers free tickets to sporting events and concerts to UK military veterans.
The auction catalog also includes the sunglasses Craig sported in Quantum of Solace (expected to fetch £2,000-3,000), a two-piece wool suit worn by Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in The World is Not Enough (£2,000-3,000), Hotel Fontainbleau props seen in 1964’s Goldfinger, assassin Scaramanga’s belt and and golden bullet buckle from 1974’s The Man With The Golden Gun (£1,000-1,500) and the tarot cards Bond squeeze Solitaire used in Live and Let Die (£800-1,200).
If the prospect of trying on Brosnan’s suit or rocking Craig’s luxury sunglasses isn’t enough, then there’s plenty going on elsewhere in the James Bond world. Craig returns as Bond in this autumn’s Skyfall, which finds our protagonist presumed dead after a disaster in Turkey. A 24th Bond movie is also due for release in 2014.
