007’s Walther PP on auction
BOND, JAMES BOND: SILHOUETTE ICONIC IN POP CULTURE Likely to be hammered down for $150 000 to $200 000, say auctioneers.
The late Sean Connery’s Walther PP pistol, used in the first James Bond movie will go up for auction next month in Los
Angeles.
It is estimated to fetch $150 000 (about R2.3 million) to $200 000.
Scottish actor Connery, who died last month at the age of 90 at his home in the Bahamas, wielded the gun in 1962’s Dr No.
“The silhouette of 007 holding this gun would go on to become the James Bond franchise’s most iconic image and one of the most recognizable pop culture references of all time,” said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions.
In Dr No, Bond is ordered by his British Secret Service bosses to reluctantly trade in his old, misfiring Beretta for the Walther, which has “a delivery like a brick through a plate-glass window”.
“The American CIA swear by them,” Bond is informed.
Versions of the Walther remain 007’s signature firearm some 25 fi lms later.
The deactivated handgun prop, one of two used in Connery’s debut fi lm, was owned by the original movie’s armourer until it was sold at a 2006 auction.
It will be one of more than 500 items in the Icons and Idols Trilogy: Hollywood auction in Beverly Hills and online on Thursday next week.
Other notable memorabilia will include a pilot’s helmet worn by Tom Cruise in Top Gun and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s leather motorcycle jacket from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Bond’s next cinematic outing, believed to be the final movie for current 007 Daniel Craig, has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. No Time to Die is scheduled for release in April.
Connery earned lasting fame and adoration for his smooth, Scottish-accented portrayal of the suave licensed-to-kill spy.
The first actor to utter the unforgettable “Bond, James Bond,” Connery is seen by many as giving the definitive portrayal of novelist Ian Fleming’s creation.
He suffered from dementia before his death, according to his widow Micheline Roquebrune.
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