James Bond’s magic numbers
Location is everything, they say, and that certainly proved the case with one of the more offbeat automobilia lots in Bonhams’ exclusively Aston Martin auction in May. That and the towering mystique of DB5 over DB9, of course.
It was the sweepings from the set of 2006 James Bond movie Casino Royale that concluded the sale of the more obvious posters, models and reclaimed engine parts. You may recall, in that big-screen epic, Aston supplied versions of its DB9 craftily modified to resemble the DBS that would be officially launched a year later.
As the script called for cars to be featured in scenes thousands of miles apart, the set-dressers had to get the detail absolutely spot-on. Daniel Craig would be driving his ‘DBS V12’ in the Balkans, so it was given an authentic Serbia & Montenegro rear numberplate, a 55cm-wide white acrylic strip with the none-too-memorable licence number of TT 378-20. It was rescued from the bin by a canny crew member and mounted on a presentation stand; Bonhams estimated it at up to £3000, but it seems no-one was tempted. And it’s a nondescript plastic strip so I can certainly understand that.
Bond would also be visiting the much more glamorous Nassau in the Bahamas, where he’d drive a DB5 that he won in a poker game stand-off with villain Alex Dimitrios at the One & Only Ocean Club. Film designers gave it traditional island reg plates, with 56526 picked out in yellow ochre on a blue background. With pleasing old-school redolence, the 30cm-wide, pressed-tin plates were perfectly in character with the left-hand-drive car.
Likewise, it was later fixed to a display stand but had a few small dents and bends commensurate with a whirlwind life in front of the camera. And this time Bonhams hit the bullseye. It made £4250 against a top estimate of £3000. I’d say, even then, that it has to be a good investment. The film was a critical success and many rank it one of the best-ever 007 cinematic adventures.
By coincidental way of comparison in the sphere of tin numberplates from paradise, I recently chanced across a lurid Cayman Islands plate in a charity shop in a posh British town for a quid and sold it on for £15. Not a bad mark-up, but it’s amazing what Bond magic can do for a 30cm-wide sheet of battered tin.