OO-heaven for James Bond fans

James Bond fans with deep pockets will be in “00-heaven” over the Prop Store’s auction in London, says Saskia Rowlands in the Daily Mirror. The sale, which runs until 2 March, brings together the world’s biggest collection of Bond posters from the Sean Connery era.

A UK “quad” poster (the traditional size of British film posters after World War II, equivalent to four imperial “crown” sizes of paper, measuring 30” x 40”), introducing Connery as Bond in Dr. No (1962), is one of the highlights of the sale. The poster, illustrated by Mitchell Hooks, is also the first to feature the now-iconic 007 “gun” logo, designed by Joseph Caroff. It is expected to sell for £10,000-£20,000. Another UK quad poster, for Connery’s follow-up outing as Bond in From Russia With Love (1963), is valued at £8,000-£16,000.

The US one-sheet poster advertising the 1961 film Breakfast At Tiffany’s (pictured) is one of the most recognisable in the sale. The Robert McGinnis illustration of Audrey Heburn as Holly Golightly is the “epitome of early ‘60s ‘cool’”, says the catalogue note, and the poster is the “holy grail for Hepburn collectors”. It should fetch £5,000-£10,000.

Sotheby’s in London also held a sale of vintage film posters earlier this month. Film posters are more than “masterpieces of graphic design”, the auction house wrote on its website. “The best examples capture the zeitgeist of the eras when they are made,” and none does so better than the large US “roadshow” poster for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), designed by Saverio Pavone. It was created to be pasted onto billboards and few examples survive. Sotheby’s sold its rare example for £8,890. As paper makes way for digital screens, film posters are set to become rarer still.