Soviet spy kits to die for on auction

Beverly Hills – Cyanide-filled fake teeth and cigarette packs concealing cameras are among the Soviet spy gadgets going under the hammer at a Beverly Hills auction this Saturday.

Many retro espionage devices in the sale by US-based Julien’s Auctions – known for Hollywood and pop culture memorabilia – would not be out of place in a classic James Bond movie, including microphones hidden within pens, ashtrays and porcelain plates.

“The people that actually created these things were the pioneers of miniaturisation,” said director of gallery operations Kody Frederick.

“Everybody now carries a camera, everybody now has a microphone”, but many of the auction’s spy gadgets hail from an era when cell phones were “as big as six bricks”.

Miniature cameras fitted inside women’s handbags, belt buckles, shoe brushes, bird boxes, signet rings and ties – and used by real secret agents – are all going on the block.

“People are looking to get their hands on really unique, different pieces from a time when digital didn’t exist and analogue was the way of life,” Frederick added.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, many items were discarded in Eastern Europe and eventually made their way to New York’s short-lived KGB museum, which opened in January 2019, but closed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Among items for sale, both on-site in California and via the internet, are a fake tooth containing deadly cyanide expected to fetch up to $1 200 (about R17 700).

“The tooth was designed to shatter when bitten a certain way so that captured agents could end their own lives when necessary to avoid torture or the release of compromising information,” explains the auction catalogue.

The collection also includes a replica of the “Bulgarian umbrella”, used in 1978 in London to fatally poison Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in one infamous Cold War episode. It is estimated at between $3 000 and $5000.

But other initially announced items, including a lipstick tube and a pen designed to fire bullets, had to be withdrawn due to California’s gun laws.

Spy enthusiasts will have to content themselves with clandestine devices used to store sensitive microfilm or other documents, including cufflinks, high-heeled shoes, hollowed-out coins ... and even a “rectal concealment capsule”.

Alongside the double-agent gadgets, Cold War relics for sale will include Che Guevara’s 1942 school report card and letters signed by him and fellow Communist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. One Castro missive contains plans to infiltrate Havana and is predicted to draw bids up to $1 500. – AFP