This fine copy had come from a private London source, and it was working for the Swindon saleroom even before the March 7 auction took place.
A piece on books in the money pages of The Times mentioned the fact that it was valued at around £5000 in a forthcoming auction and that prompted one reader to contact his sister about a signed Bond book that he thought she still owned.
One week after the record breaking Casino Royale sale, the auctioneers took delivery of a copy of Goldfinger inscribed “To Lionel [Viscount Kemsley], something more to read...”
Buyer’s premium: 12.5 per cent.
Another zero is added to 007’s number
UK: I THINK I am right in saying that no James Bond book, at least no uninscribed copy, has ever before reached five figures at auction, but the Dominic Winter sale of March 7 added that required extra nought when an absolutely splendid copy of Ian Fleming’s first Bond spy story, Casino Royale of 1953, was bid up to £11,400. There was stiff competition from several London dealers, but in the end it went to Bromlea & Jonkers.
