Donk's Modest Collection is in my opinion the best Bond memorabilia and Prop collection to see in one place, it is a proper archive/museum, owned by a guy that is dedicated to his collection.
In my time as a Bond fan, which is about 47 years, I have been lucky to see all sorts of things Bond, from exhibitions to working at EON, and non of it compares to Donks collection of Bond -{
Donk's Modest Collection is in my opinion the best Bond memorabilia and Prop collection to see in one place, it is a proper archive/museum, owned by a guy that is dedicated to his collection.
In my time as a Bond fan, which is about 47 years, I have been lucky to see all sorts of things Bond, from exhibitions to working at EON, and non of it compares to Donks collection of Bond -{
Without access to a certain black & white image I probably would not have been able to tie it to Roger?...thank you mate -{ :x
Thank you also for the kind words...one tries :x
I consider myself pretty blessed to have been in so many wonderful collectors' homes and--thanks in large part to well-known contributors at AJB--to have hobnobbed with actors, technicians and authors from Bond and the spy world and to have seen and handled some pretty awesome props, clothing and "stuff". Donk's collectibles are simply off the charts!
Thank you for all the positive comments. So what has brought this PPK revelation about? After all the questionable provenance of the known LTK PPK has been discussed before on AJB & even though I've been prodded to respond (you know who you are) I've stayed quiet until now. A kindle book is currently available on Amazon on the history of James Bond guns?. It is on the whole inaccurate lifting information from IMFDB, AJB007 & ASP9mm's website to name but a few. The latter website containing the accurate technical information which has been nicked. This is lazy research & plagiarism putting it mildly.
Without going into industry specifics because I won't, 5 years of my life were committed to producing a manuscript on the history of Bond guns on the big screen from 1962's Dr No to 2012's Skyfall. Research took place behind studio doors & from the private recollections of the talented individuals who put 007 up where he belongs on the silver screen. It had an editor and publisher lined up for a 50th Anniversary release which regrettably did not happen for numerous reasons including I kept enlarging upon it. BTW Sir Miles & close industry professionals have read it & liked it. One person who I greatly respect said "he had been waiting 25 years for someone to put the Bond weapons history to paper". The selling point of the project was no stock photos would be used therefore the photo content would only be of the actual screen used weapon or stunt weaponry made for the productions but not necessarily utilised? & this condition was cast in stone...I then had to track down the bloody things!
The manuscripts aim was to inform. I am known for contacting auction houses & letting them know why the Bond gun they have listed isn't a Bond gun! As an example an overseas auction house accredited an auction lot to Roger Moore where to the trained eye it was clear that the pistol in question did not exist in the real world until Pierce Brosnan's tenure as 007. It wasn't Pierce's either! That same auction house sold a stunt PPKS, not a PPK to a License Revoked crew member for a pretty penny I can tell you and yes I put him right in no uncertain terms!
This happens more often than you would think? For the record every Walther pistol utilised on screen by the character James Bond is known & therefore documented if you know where to look? Every Walther pistol used on screen by the character James Bond be he Sean, George, Roger, Timothy, Pierce or indeed Daniel is accounted for and accounted for is a very important word in this game however there is one important exception documented by the late sorely missed Iris Rose of EON Productions Ltd who was an unofficial archivist of all things Bond before the Archive existed or to be exact before she and Graham Rye went through all the lock ups at Pinewood studios identifying all the Bond properties in preparation for the 1990 JBIFC convention held at the studios where the prop display was impressive, putting it mildly 007. We all owe these two individuals a great debt of thanks.
Getting back to that exception, Ms Rose noted while filming FRWL in Crinin, West Scotland a PPK pistol was dropped in one of the lochs while filming the SPECTRE motor launch sequence. Now I'm not going to name the loch but I do know the serial number: 1036XXX, and 52 years later there is a very good chance said pistol is still there...what a prize, time to break out Jordan's Thunderball Tow Sled!
That my dear AJB friends is research & I know for a fact you read it here first on AJB007 -{
Hey, what about my extensive collection of Seikos and footwear and clothing of selected colors? :v
I have only seen pics of your Seiko's, but as to your clothes, at least we have warning and can see you coming
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,917Chief of Staff
The manuscript written by Donk is such a joy to read - packed full of meticulous information...it's such a shame it isn't in print I can only marvel at the years of research that have gone into this...it truly is a labour of love...if I wore a hat, I would doff it ! -{
YNWA 97
Asp9mmOver the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,541MI6 Agent
Thank you for all the positive comments. So what has brought this PPK revelation about? After all the questionable provenance of the known LTK PPK has been discussed before on AJB & even though I've been prodded to respond (you know who you are) I've stayed quiet until now. A kindle book is currently available on Amazon on the history of James Bond guns?. It is on the whole inaccurate lifting information from IMFDB, AJB007 & ASP9mm's website to name but a few. The latter website containing the accurate technical information which has been nicked. This is lazy research & plagiarism putting it mildly.
Without going into industry specifics because I won't, 5 years of my life were committed to producing a manuscript on the history of Bond guns on the big screen from 1962's Dr No to 2012's Skyfall. Research took place behind studio doors & from the private recollections of the talented individuals who put 007 up where he belongs on the silver screen. It had an editor and publisher lined up for a 50th Anniversary release which regrettably did not happen for numerous reasons including I kept enlarging upon it. BTW Sir Miles & close industry professionals have read it & liked it. One person who I greatly respect said "he had been waiting 25 years for someone to put the Bond weapons history to paper". The selling point of the project was no stock photos would be used therefore the photo content would only be of the actual screen used weapon or stunt weaponry made for the productions but not necessarily utilised? & this condition was cast in stone...I then had to track down the bloody things!
The manuscripts aim was to inform. I am known for contacting auction houses & letting them know why the Bond gun they have listed isn't a Bond gun! As an example an overseas auction house accredited an auction lot to Roger Moore where to the trained eye it was clear that the pistol in question did not exist in the real world until Pierce Brosnan's tenure as 007. It wasn't Pierce's either! That same auction house sold a stunt PPKS, not a PPK to a License Revoked crew member for a pretty penny I can tell you and yes I put him right in no uncertain terms!
This happens more often than you would think? For the record every Walther pistol utilised on screen by the character James Bond is known & therefore documented if you know where to look? Every Walther pistol used on screen by the character James Bond be he Sean, George, Roger, Timothy, Pierce or indeed Daniel is accounted for and accounted for is a very important word in this game however there is one important exception documented by the late sorely missed Iris Rose of EON Productions Ltd who was an unofficial archivist of all things Bond before the Archive existed or to be exact before she and Graham Rye went through all the lock ups at Pinewood studios identifying all the Bond properties in preparation for the 1990 JBIFC convention held at the studios where the prop display was impressive, putting it mildly 007. We all owe these two individuals a great debt of thanks.
Getting back to that exception, Ms Rose noted while filming FRWL in Crinin, West Scotland a PPK pistol was dropped in one of the lochs while filming the SPECTRE motor launch sequence. Now I'm not going to name the loch but I do know the serial number: 1036XXX, and 52 years later there is a very good chance said pistol is still there...what a prize, time to break out Jordan's Thunderball Tow Sled!
That my dear AJB friends is research & I know for a fact you read it here first on AJB007 -{
This deserves re-posting as there are too many of those non screen used LTK PPK's out there, and they're easily recognisable.
And just to re-affirm that the Donk archive is the best in world bar none. And then on top of that, there's all that knowledge trapped in that tiny brain that needs to be conserved and cherished and put down in print for all time and future generations. It's a unique gathering of purely factual information that must never be lost, and linked to the precious artifacts he has brought together to conserve and is custodian of, it's an invaluable collection like no other in the cinematic world as a whole, let alone Bond's.
Oh, and that's one big Loch and the water is corrosive, so not much chance of finding a recognisable PPK shaped lump of iron, if anything at all. I checked )
.................................
Asp9mmOver the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,541MI6 Agent
I've been hoping I'd be the winning bidder of this piece since Propstore first released their 007 listings for their 23rd September 2015 Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction. A Licence Revoked clapperboard which because of a belief that some may not know what revoked means? was rebranded as Licence to Kill.
Many years ago I had a chance meeting with Pierce Brosnan's prop handler who resides in Mexico. While discussing the fond memories he had of making LTK he dropped a little known fact which was that even though the documented contracted weapons wranglers were Stembridge Gun Rentals, Dalton's PPK pistols on the production were the same pistols he had used on The Living Daylights which had been shipped out from the armourers in the UK and these pistols in turn had originally been Roger's where Roger had also utilised PPK pistols previously used by George and Sean, in fact Brosnan was the first Bond to utilise PPK pistols fresh out of the ULM shipping boxes which had not been utilised previously by other actors as 4 pistols, 2 pairs with sequential serial numbers ending 475,476,589 & 590 were purchased for his personal use on Goldeneye which he also used on Tomorrow Never Dies before upgrading to Walther's new service pistol, the 9mm P99....a circulating PPK pistol with accompanying Stembridge Armoury hire documents accredited to Mr Dalton has the wrong shape slide & the serial number (wrong font, wrong size & wrong slide position) is NOT factory stamped. It should however be pointed out that a Zella-Mehlis slided PPK pistol appears in the LTK titles sequence only...isn't research wonderful?
Skip forward a few years & a project I was on gave me access to areas where I could put previous research to good use. Many questions were asked of those who on paper knew the answers but no one could confirm where Timothy's PPK pistols now resided as after Bond weapons were hired out to numerous productions and on occasion armouries had been known to sell or trade consignments of weapons to other armouries. There was also an issue of the top slides being switched around as some PPK pistols only had serial numbers on the frames.
One such movie armourer had a PPK pistol which he said was a Bond (yeah right) but he could offer no provenance on the piece or make a suggestion of what movie it was utilised on "we only got them in for Bond". What I should point out is this particular pistol had a chromed silver finish...doesn't sound very Bond does it?
A common practice even today is if a producer wants 3 silver pistols & the armourer only has 2 silver and 1 black the black one gets a coat of silver paint & vice versa. Not many go to the expense of purchasing in another pistol of the correct finish in fact the documentation I have uncovered shows that TWINE was the first Bond to purposely buy in a consignment of new P99 pistols in both blank & live fire for Brosnan's usage along with the ten blank fire PAK pistols and two modified "V1" live fire previously utilised on Tomorrow Never Dies.
Now 20-30 years ago instead of silver paint the pistol would have had a quick trip to the local automotive chrome plating works. Incidentally this is what happened in 1973 when Roger's blued Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver required a high shine nickle plated finish which nickle could not achieve for Live & Let Die. Additionally the nickel pistol was quite rare & expensive at the time hence the cheap fix (bet the current owner just choked on his cornflakes!).
Back to the PPK, it was initially hardly recognisable but there was something very familiar about it which I could not put my finger on but long story short, a deal was done, the plating was stripped, the slide, frame & component parts were re-blued & the original brown mottled bakelite grips were refitted & then the penny dropped & it dropped hard courtesy of AJB's very own Danjaq_Off who had previously furnished me with a rarely seen b&w archive plate of Roger's kit on the set of Live & Let Die back in 1973. Certain details viewed under a magnifying glass matched like a finger print. Research then revealed that Roger had used the same PPK pistol on The Man with the Golden Gun & The Spy Who Loved Me before it had been passed onto Timothy. Regrettably the chrome plating process had destroyed any hope of matching irregularities in the blued finish & even some factory proof marks to modern HD screen captures which is how we usually identify undocumented pieces initially put forward as Bond. I'd hoped to be able to also tie the pistol to George but the serial number clearly dictated a manufactured date of 1972-1973. Interestingly while carrying out exhaustive research on this and other pistols I managed to locate George's PPK which was believed to have been lost as there was no documented record of it since 69. The current owner secured it not knowing what he/she had which I have found initially is often the case as it was with 285XXX.
If you look closesly at these images a trace of chrome still remains on the mount where the trigger guard meets the frame as the blue will only act on untreated steel. On the ejection port side both the upper & lower matching serial numbers are still engrained with chrome as there does not appear to be a way of safely removing it without damage to the factory engravings. This is also why the engravings look subdued on the shown side.
With Designing 007 in the planning stages EON were informed that the pistol had been found & photographic evidence was furnished of the pistol on set in 1973 with current day comparison shots in the hope it would be included in the exhibition but even in the planning stages it was evident that real weapons inclusion was big time frowned upon so here it is back in its original 1973-1989 glory seen for the first time in 26 years on AJB007 -{
285XXX reunited with an old friend
285XXX in 1973 spec'
A rarely seen Archive image of Roger's hardware on the set of Live & Let Die. Note the grip irregularities on the PPK
285XXX in 1987 spec' with original silencer
285XXX in 1989 spec'
Thank you for all the positive comments. So what has brought this PPK revelation about? After all the questionable provenance of the known LTK PPK has been discussed before on AJB & even though I've been prodded to respond (you know who you are) I've stayed quiet until now. A kindle book is currently available on Amazon on the history of James Bond guns?. It is on the whole inaccurate lifting information from IMFDB, AJB007 & ASP9mm's website to name but a few. The latter website containing the accurate technical information which has been nicked. This is lazy research & plagiarism putting it mildly.
Without going into industry specifics because I won't, 5 years of my life were committed to producing a manuscript on the history of Bond guns on the big screen from 1962's Dr No to 2012's Skyfall. Research took place behind studio doors & from the private recollections of the talented individuals who put 007 up where he belongs on the silver screen. It had an editor and publisher lined up for a 50th Anniversary release which regrettably did not happen for numerous reasons including I kept enlarging upon it. BTW Sir Miles & close industry professionals have read it & liked it. One person who I greatly respect said "he had been waiting 25 years for someone to put the Bond weapons history to paper". The selling point of the project was no stock photos would be used therefore the photo content would only be of the actual screen used weapon or stunt weaponry made for the productions but not necessarily utilised? & this condition was cast in stone...I then had to track down the bloody things!
The manuscripts aim was to inform. I am known for contacting auction houses & letting them know why the Bond gun they have listed isn't a Bond gun! As an example an overseas auction house accredited an auction lot to Roger Moore where to the trained eye it was clear that the pistol in question did not exist in the real world until Pierce Brosnan's tenure as 007. It wasn't Pierce's either! That same auction house sold a stunt PPKS, not a PPK to a License Revoked crew member for a pretty penny I can tell you and yes I put him right in no uncertain terms!
This happens more often than you would think? For the record every Walther pistol utilised on screen by the character James Bond is known & therefore documented if you know where to look? Every Walther pistol used on screen by the character James Bond be he Sean, George, Roger, Timothy, Pierce or indeed Daniel is accounted for and accounted for is a very important word in this game however there is one important exception documented by the late sorely missed Iris Rose of EON Productions Ltd who was an unofficial archivist of all things Bond before the Archive existed or to be exact before she and Graham Rye went through all the lock ups at Pinewood studios identifying all the Bond properties in preparation for the 1990 JBIFC convention held at the studios where the prop display was impressive, putting it mildly 007. We all owe these two individuals a great debt of thanks.
Getting back to that exception, Ms Rose noted while filming FRWL in Crinin, West Scotland a PPK pistol was dropped in one of the lochs while filming the SPECTRE motor launch sequence. Now I'm not going to name the loch but I do know the serial number: 1036XXX, and 52 years later there is a very good chance said pistol is still there...what a prize, time to break out Jordan's Thunderball Tow Sled!
That my dear AJB friends is research & I know for a fact you read it here first on AJB007 -{
This deserves re-posting as there are too many of those non screen used LTK PPK's out there, and they're easily recognisable.
And just to re-affirm that the Donk archive is the best in world bar none. And then on top of that, there's all that knowledge trapped in that tiny brain that needs to be conserved and cherished and put down in print for all time and future generations. It's a unique gathering of purely factual information that must never be lost, and linked to the precious artifacts he has brought together to conserve and is custodian of, it's an invaluable collection like no other in the cinematic world as a whole, let alone Bond's.
Oh, and that's one big Loch and the water is corrosive, so not much chance of finding a recognisable PPK shaped lump of iron, if anything at all. I checked )
Donks collections are always a joy ,for us Bondites to look at ,he is the man,contributions by our in house weapons expert ASP9MM ,
always confirm the authentication ,not that we would ever question Donks expertise .The knowledge here on AJB is just staggering ,
well done guys
By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
Asp9mmOver the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,541MI6 Agent
Donk doesn't need any confirmation from me. It's usually the other way around )
Thank you all for the kind comments. Donkey does try....in fact I'm very trying!
Keep an eye out for the next instalment to the Collection which is Modest on December 25th
Thank you all for the kind comments. Donkey does try....in fact I'm very trying!
Keep an eye out for the next instalment to the Collection which is Modest on December 25th
Covered at length in another post: Asprey of London/OHMSS "Angels of Death" Vanity Case
Until now, very little was known about the prop apart from the fact that 46 years ago the piece existed. Internet searches reveal common screen grabs but searches under Asprey reveal nothing apart from an image taken from the June 2015 Bonhams auction of Lot #112. Contact was made with Asprey of London & EON Productions Ltd in the hope of them having records of the original piece but this has regrettably been proven fruitless although it has recently come to light that Asprey did indeed produce a near identical retail case in a dark brown faux crocodile skin with a different style of brass hardware & possibly a different interior layout as vanity cases of the period tended to be compartmentalised (see below).
A similar case was sold through Tennants Auctioneers in March 2012 as Lot 1328, An Asprey's Crocodile Skin Vanity Case, of square form with strap handle, the hinged cover with gilt mark ASPREY LONDON, 22cm wide, with fitted trays, estimate £600. This was the first solid evidence that the prop seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service was a bespoke commissioned piece.
It is believed that of the original twelve Angels of Death vanity cases perhaps only one has survived? The remaining actresses who portrayed "the Angels" have been officially approached to see if they kept a souvenir? but there has been a unanimous "the producers would not allow us to keep them". The black faux crocodile skin vanity cases with green velvet lining were originally created by Asprey of London in 1969 & furnished with Germaine Monteil cosmetics although one case had a brass custom crafted compact which had concealed inside a radio communicator with a micro telescopic aerial which was created by either Syd Cain or Gadget Man Albert Luxford? On location at Piz Gloria in Murren it is believed that the hero prop was not quite ready (back in the UK) so an exact representation was created in cardboard which would not be clearly seen on screen. The close up of the prop with the reflection of Ruby Bartlett in the mirror was completed with an insert shot taken later at Pinewood Studios to seamlessly join the two different location takes together.
The history of this particular piece is cloudy & is based on an assumption/rumour that upon completion of filming the piece was purchased from United Artists/EON Productions by a well-known iconic British actor as a memento for his then wife who had appeared in the movie. If this is the case (pardon the pun) I can well believe it as the piece has been well loved. The case itself right down to the original key is immaculate, the cosmetics have handling age wear as one would expect.
It has been suggested that as part of a proposed National Newspaper campaign in 1969, two of the twelve cases were released by United Artists from EON’s London offices in Tilney Street, Hyde Park as competition prizes however exhaustive research has as yet been able to unearth any evidence of such a campaign. Additionally EON have since moved from that location to Piccadilly Circus -{
A mere 5 years behind schedule, the Asprey set is finally exhibited at Bond In Motion alongside Tracey's Mercury Cougar -{
And now for something completely different
When it comes to production used props, some guys have a hang up for clothing, some have a hang up for production pieces, some have a hang up for gadgets, some have a hang up for weapons, some have a hang up for miniatures, some have a hang up for vehicles but Donkey has a hang up for cans, Bond's cans!
From the top:
From Russia With Love/Thunderball
The Living Daylights
Goldeneye/Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Casino Royale
Casino Royale publicity
Casino Royale titles -{
And now for something completely different
When it comes to production used props, some guys have a hang up for clothing, some have a hang up for production pieces, some have a hang up for gadgets, some have a hang up for weapons, some have a hang up for miniatures, some have a hang up for vehicles but Donkey has a hang up for cans, Bond's cans!
From the top: From Russia With Love/Thunderball
The Living Daylights
Goldeneye/Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Casino Royale
Casino Royale publicity -{
Great stuff. Out of curiosity, are any of them functional, or are they just props?
Comments
In my time as a Bond fan, which is about 47 years, I have been lucky to see all sorts of things Bond, from exhibitions to working at EON, and non of it compares to Donks collection of Bond -{
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Without access to a certain black & white image I probably would not have been able to tie it to Roger?...thank you mate -{ :x
Thank you also for the kind words...one tries :x
Without going into industry specifics because I won't, 5 years of my life were committed to producing a manuscript on the history of Bond guns on the big screen from 1962's Dr No to 2012's Skyfall. Research took place behind studio doors & from the private recollections of the talented individuals who put 007 up where he belongs on the silver screen. It had an editor and publisher lined up for a 50th Anniversary release which regrettably did not happen for numerous reasons including I kept enlarging upon it. BTW Sir Miles & close industry professionals have read it & liked it. One person who I greatly respect said "he had been waiting 25 years for someone to put the Bond weapons history to paper". The selling point of the project was no stock photos would be used therefore the photo content would only be of the actual screen used weapon or stunt weaponry made for the productions but not necessarily utilised? & this condition was cast in stone...I then had to track down the bloody things!
The manuscripts aim was to inform. I am known for contacting auction houses & letting them know why the Bond gun they have listed isn't a Bond gun! As an example an overseas auction house accredited an auction lot to Roger Moore where to the trained eye it was clear that the pistol in question did not exist in the real world until Pierce Brosnan's tenure as 007. It wasn't Pierce's either! That same auction house sold a stunt PPKS, not a PPK to a License Revoked crew member for a pretty penny I can tell you and yes I put him right in no uncertain terms!
This happens more often than you would think? For the record every Walther pistol utilised on screen by the character James Bond is known & therefore documented if you know where to look? Every Walther pistol used on screen by the character James Bond be he Sean, George, Roger, Timothy, Pierce or indeed Daniel is accounted for and accounted for is a very important word in this game however there is one important exception documented by the late sorely missed Iris Rose of EON Productions Ltd who was an unofficial archivist of all things Bond before the Archive existed or to be exact before she and Graham Rye went through all the lock ups at Pinewood studios identifying all the Bond properties in preparation for the 1990 JBIFC convention held at the studios where the prop display was impressive, putting it mildly 007. We all owe these two individuals a great debt of thanks.
Getting back to that exception, Ms Rose noted while filming FRWL in Crinin, West Scotland a PPK pistol was dropped in one of the lochs while filming the SPECTRE motor launch sequence. Now I'm not going to name the loch but I do know the serial number: 1036XXX, and 52 years later there is a very good chance said pistol is still there...what a prize, time to break out Jordan's Thunderball Tow Sled!
That my dear AJB friends is research & I know for a fact you read it here first on AJB007 -{
I have only seen pics of your Seiko's, but as to your clothes, at least we have warning and can see you coming
This deserves re-posting as there are too many of those non screen used LTK PPK's out there, and they're easily recognisable.
And just to re-affirm that the Donk archive is the best in world bar none. And then on top of that, there's all that knowledge trapped in that tiny brain that needs to be conserved and cherished and put down in print for all time and future generations. It's a unique gathering of purely factual information that must never be lost, and linked to the precious artifacts he has brought together to conserve and is custodian of, it's an invaluable collection like no other in the cinematic world as a whole, let alone Bond's.
Oh, and that's one big Loch and the water is corrosive, so not much chance of finding a recognisable PPK shaped lump of iron, if anything at all. I checked
Su-bloody-perb!!!!
Here here I second that.
You should open a museum!
always confirm the authentication ,not that we would ever question Donks expertise .The knowledge here on AJB is just staggering ,
well done guys
Keep an eye out for the next instalment to the Collection which is Modest on December 25th
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121001000747/christmasspecials/images/4/46/Donkey.jpg
Until now, very little was known about the prop apart from the fact that 46 years ago the piece existed. Internet searches reveal common screen grabs but searches under Asprey reveal nothing apart from an image taken from the June 2015 Bonhams auction of Lot #112. Contact was made with Asprey of London & EON Productions Ltd in the hope of them having records of the original piece but this has regrettably been proven fruitless although it has recently come to light that Asprey did indeed produce a near identical retail case in a dark brown faux crocodile skin with a different style of brass hardware & possibly a different interior layout as vanity cases of the period tended to be compartmentalised (see below).
A similar case was sold through Tennants Auctioneers in March 2012 as Lot 1328, An Asprey's Crocodile Skin Vanity Case, of square form with strap handle, the hinged cover with gilt mark ASPREY LONDON, 22cm wide, with fitted trays, estimate £600. This was the first solid evidence that the prop seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service was a bespoke commissioned piece.
It is believed that of the original twelve Angels of Death vanity cases perhaps only one has survived? The remaining actresses who portrayed "the Angels" have been officially approached to see if they kept a souvenir? but there has been a unanimous "the producers would not allow us to keep them". The black faux crocodile skin vanity cases with green velvet lining were originally created by Asprey of London in 1969 & furnished with Germaine Monteil cosmetics although one case had a brass custom crafted compact which had concealed inside a radio communicator with a micro telescopic aerial which was created by either Syd Cain or Gadget Man Albert Luxford? On location at Piz Gloria in Murren it is believed that the hero prop was not quite ready (back in the UK) so an exact representation was created in cardboard which would not be clearly seen on screen. The close up of the prop with the reflection of Ruby Bartlett in the mirror was completed with an insert shot taken later at Pinewood Studios to seamlessly join the two different location takes together.
The history of this particular piece is cloudy & is based on an assumption/rumour that upon completion of filming the piece was purchased from United Artists/EON Productions by a well-known iconic British actor as a memento for his then wife who had appeared in the movie. If this is the case (pardon the pun) I can well believe it as the piece has been well loved. The case itself right down to the original key is immaculate, the cosmetics have handling age wear as one would expect.
It has been suggested that as part of a proposed National Newspaper campaign in 1969, two of the twelve cases were released by United Artists from EON’s London offices in Tilney Street, Hyde Park as competition prizes however exhaustive research has as yet been able to unearth any evidence of such a campaign. Additionally EON have since moved from that location to Piccadilly Circus -{
A mere 5 years behind schedule, the Asprey set is finally exhibited at Bond In Motion alongside Tracey's Mercury Cougar -{
When it comes to production used props, some guys have a hang up for clothing, some have a hang up for production pieces, some have a hang up for gadgets, some have a hang up for weapons, some have a hang up for miniatures, some have a hang up for vehicles but Donkey has a hang up for cans, Bond's cans!
From the top:
From Russia With Love/Thunderball
The Living Daylights
Goldeneye/Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Casino Royale
Casino Royale publicity
Casino Royale titles -{
Great stuff. Out of curiosity, are any of them functional, or are they just props?
Whatever will you whip out next ?
Absolutely amazing -{
I do wonder how you got hold of all these treasures?
there they are all standing in a row,
Big ones, small ones, some as big as your .....'
Well done Donk, two quality posts in one week -{
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