One of the most sought-after posters is for the 1962 James Bond outing Dr No. This was the first 007 film and starred Sean Connery and Ursula Andress.
The example on offer at Cheshire auction house Capes Dunn on February 28 featured a yellow ground and in red lettering Ian Fleming's Dr No. The first James Bond Film! In small black print in the bottom margin are the words: Printed in England - Stafford and Co., Ltd. Netherinfield Nottingham and London.
The 2ft 6in x4ft 4in (76cm x 1.02m) overall design was catalogued as ‘folded with some water staining bottom left, minor edge tears, drawing pin holes and marks to corners and parts grubby’, and was estimated at £500-800.
However, it sold to a phone bidder for £4400 (plus 21% buyer's premium). Pamela Charara from Capes Dunn said: “The vendor was present on sale day. He remembered having the poster on his bedroom wall as a young boy, having swapped it at school for something long forgotten.”
No, no, yes, yes
The demand for this poster was underlined by another, larger Dr No example offered by Dudley auction house Aston’s this January.
Designed by David Chasman, the 2ft 6in x 4ft 4in (76cm x 1.32m) poster was estimated at £3000-5000 but was hammered down at £5600.
Chris Aston said at the time: “This is the first release original British Quad film poster and the first James Bond poster too. Mitchell Hook’s painted artwork features Sean Connery as Bond with smoking pistol in one hand and a cigarette in the other and was the first image of Bond for the British cinema audience surviving well and setting the trend for later campaigns.”
More affordable
As with any collecting field, however, there are buys to be had at the more ‘affordable’ level of the market when it comes to Bond memorabilia.
Also at Capes Dunn, a You Only Live Twice film poster estimated at £200-250 sold at £320. Or, for example, Aston’s sold a The Man With The Golden Gun poster for £380 (estimate £80-120) in January.
Book Bond
While the first Bond film poster commands an auction premium, so inevitably does the first Bond book, Casino Royale.
A crease running around the lower part of the dust jacket detracted somewhat from the appeal of a first impression copy of this 1953 work offered at London auction house Bonhams on March 1, but it hammered down at £16,000.
Only a couple of straightforward, uninscribed copies have made a little more in the past.
