These are the earlier design and prototypes - which started off as off the shevles items like the waterman pen, the colibri light etc. From this initial design evolved the final design which are what we now see as a cleaner looking piece - one solid lighter piece.
thanks for the info texas007 and I have been a big fan of your collection for a while now... great stuff..
ok I understand it was prototypes and they look a bit rough...
A gold waterman pen came up on ebay a few months back a put a few bids in but it went way too high for my pocket .. especialy for a pen and after all thats what it is a pen )
I was told from a very very reliable source that A Wooden Golden Gun was made for Christopher Lee. and it was 100 pont perfect to the original. It was seen on a chat show in the late 70's I think Christopher lee was getting interviewed by Terry Wogan ... and Mr Lee pulled the gun out of his jacket. I have never seen the footage myself.
technicaly I dont see Peter Nelson's gun as an original used in the film if it has the 2 lighters stuck together design.. it is a prototype... still a fantastic peice I am not doubting it in any way.. I am meerly stating it was not used on screen..
BTW, I recall another GG with the lighter open in the reverse of this - just like in the poster. Used to have a picture of it - but it was a long time ago on another computer that I no longer have.
look closely at the picture of the Colibri Golden gun jason posted up for me, look at the cigarette case very very closely, you can barely see the ( S ) on the cigarette case, the pen on this picture is a waterman pen, the picture does not give this gun any justice and details can't be seen, this is the same gun shown in the article i had mentioned before,
Kan i have a picture of the Golden Gun you're referring too, it's one where Christopher lee is holding a bullet to load onto the Gun with the lighter opened the opposite way.
The golden gun was mentioned in Albert J. Luxford, the Gimmick Man (McFarland) by Albert J Luxford with Gareth Owen
"…. Colibri made the actual golden gun, which came together by assembling a cigarette case, lighter, cuff links and pen. It was gorgeous, and was all diamond cut. But someone made the mistake of giving it to an actor - I don’t know who or how - to play around with and it was dropped, smashing into tiny pieces.
A frantic art director came running into my workshop and said, "they’ve busted the gun!" and he asked me if I could make another one. I asked how long, and he said, "You’ve got a little more than tomorrow." I said I’d need a little more than two weeks, at least.
I got together with a colleague of mine, Curly Currs, who was a gunsmith, and we set about making another one, out of more durable brass. The thing was, we knew that it then had to go over to Ireland to be diamond cut, as that was the only place that it was done, and that would add days.
The film schedule was re-arranged, and we worked around the clock. We made it in just over a week, and flew it to Ireland. It was on stage within a fortnight of the "incident". Of course, we all realized that Colibri’s mistake was in making only one of the guns; really, they should have had a standby one too, but we all live and learn."
There is also a picture of A golden gun captioned "The golden gun from The Man With The Golden Gun. This is all on pages 63 & 65 of the book. Sorry, I'm not in a position to post pictures. Peter mentioned this to me the other day, but this was the first time I've been in a position to post about it - and as I proof read the book I should have remembered earlier.
Peter Nelson's GG and the GG picture i sent, same GG, both pictures are very bluury but both have the same type lighter and waterman pen,plus the same S as the one in Christies Book {[]
are you talkiing about the cigarette case or the lighter, the picture that i sent is identical to the picture of the GG that sold in the Christies auction, compare both pics side by side, look at the picture i sent you and look very closely to the cigarette case and look for the "S" on it, it has the same trigger cuff-link cigarette case with jewel, and the lighter.
Boy this is fun to read. The Colibri lighter on PN's Golden Gun is just that..a Colibri lighter. Colibri used that particular donor lighter as inspiration for the screen seen prop but as I'm sure everyone can see was too small. It is also much thinner than the screen mock up. To give you an idea of its size, fold a credit card in half & its still too big. It is also around 8mm wide. This looked ridiculous when assembled with the other components to say the least so its pattern was copied on the screen mock up. The Colibri logo which is very visible on the screen prop does not appear on the outer casing on the actual Colibri donor lighter although the logo does appear under the flip-top or which most think is the hammer. Its inclusion in the prop was product placement by Colibri because the lighter was the first of its type (electric or butane I'm not up on lighters). I believe PN's is the illusive promotional Golden Gun made by Colibri simply because of this fact. So endeth the lesson. What do you think ASP?
Asp9mmOver the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,535MI6 Agent
Boy this is fun to read. The Colibri lighter on PN's Golden Gun is just that..a Colibri lighter. Colibri used that particular donor lighter as inspiration for the screen seen prop but as I'm sure everyone can see was too small. It is also much thinner than the screen mock up. To give you an idea of its size, fold a credit card in half & its still too big. It is also around 8mm wide. This looked ridiculous when assembled with the other components to say the least so its pattern was copied on the screen mock up. The Colibri logo which is very visible on the screen prop does not appear on the outer casing on the actual Colibri donor lighter although the logo does appear under the flip-top or which most think is the hammer. Its inclusion in the prop was product placement by Colibri because the lighter was the first of its type (electric or butane I'm not up on lighters). I believe PN's is the illusive promotional Golden Gun made by Colibri simply because of this fact. So endeth the lesson. What do you think ASP?
I bow down to your superior knowledge as always. You should visit us more often. I have diddly knowledge when it comes to GG's. And you are THE Bond gun guru {[]
Thank you for your kind words ASP9mm. Additional info on the lighter: Colibri Molectric, dimensions 53mm by 32mm by 12mm (not 8mm as I had previously incorrectly estimated). The gold plating is of a very high grade. It matches the lighter on PN's GG 100%.
Hi the B&W picture you are referring to of Christopher Lee loading a round into the open end of the lighter on the GG is part of the SD Studios information pack which was sent out with most if not all of the SD Studios Golden gun replicas. There is a picture of the information pack on Yourprops.com.
I met up with Peter Lamont at Pinewood studios and had a very interesting chat with the legend himself. I gave him my one off golden gun replica to hold for a photograph with me and we had a chat ...
I am going to keep certain things he said to myself and for the article I am writing about the event...
All I can say for now is that Peter lamont who designed and made the golden gun ... is this..
Peter Lamont still has his original model ... which he made from balsa wood featuring a real waterman gold pen...
and asked colibri to replicate which turned out to be a complete mess and was not used at all by the film or any of the actors involved..
he then took his prototype model which he still has... to a silver smith in London ... who made the 3 film guns exact to his specifications and model in silver and gold plated...
. and Eon still have all 3 models and peter still has his original model ... there is only 3 original's and they were all made by ROSE a silver smith in London... at the time of the film.. 2 were solid and one of them could fire a cap and the other could assemble and disasemble...
so any of the suposed prototypes etc .... there either fan made or they were made for the film etc but never used and were never on the film sets or locations or used by any of the actors involved...
Hi the B&W picture you are referring to of Christopher Lee loading a round into the open end of the lighter on the GG is part of the SD Studios information pack which was sent out with most if not all of the SD Studios Golden gun replicas. There is a picture of the information pack on Yourprops.com.
I could not find the picture of the information pack you were referring too on yourprops.com, to my knowledge SD studios only gave out two B/W pictures and towards the end of SD a third picture was included, one picture is Scaramanga pointing the GG standing in front of a boulder.
second picture Scaramanga on Hi-fat's desk looking down on the the GG.
third picture Scaramanga assembling the gun on Hi-fat's desk.
The B/W picture of Scarmanga loading the GG was not provided by SD studios, i'm not saying if was never done but for the most part the picture of Scaramanga loading the gun (not assembling it) was not provided by SD.
The picture i'm referring to is of Scarmanga assimilating loading the GG with to an open colibri lighter, it shows the intent to load the gun but this was impossible due to the fact that it was an actual lighter with no slot or room for a bullet.
I only say this because of six SD studios GG information packs i have had, not one pack contained the picture we are referring too.
I'm sure it was on the mantlepiece behind Dame Judi in a glass case during her South Bank Show interviews... I do hope someone checked her handbag on the way out
I have fantastic photos of peter Lamont holding my Golden Gun replica I am still writing the article about Pinewood but photos will be on my website shortly...
AlSO ... I will be on Scottish TV next week on the 5:30 show talking about the Bond props and gadgets and showing a few of them on screen ... so watch out for me ... cheers... it will be either tuesday or wednesday
Ref: Picture of Scaramanga loading round into Golden Gun. It took a while to find but if you turn to the cast page, Cubby Broccoli & Harry Saltzman in the Japanese programme, the middle black & white photo shows a white sleeved hand loading a round into the open end of the back of the gun. You can clearly see the lighter element which matches up with the donor Colibri Molectric.
I met up with Peter Lamont at Pinewood studios and had a very interesting chat with the legend himself...
(Trimmed to save space)
...so any of the suposed prototypes etc .... there either fan made or they were made for the film etc but never used and were never on the film sets or locations or used by any of the actors involved...
Nice work Q! - Only you would go straight to the source of fact - one of the legends of production design responsible for years of award winning film work (Mr Ken Adam notwithstanding) and get the truth. - Well done! {[]
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
I have finished my Pinewood report with amazing photos of the event... and some issues regarding the famous Golden Gun will be solved and some new unknown fact revealed... by Peter Lamont himself ... well what he told me.. some information never mentioned in the books or DVD doccumentaries..
I like the way you say... trust me to go straight to the main source... to solve this issue... It was pure coinsidance realy meeting him at this point in time and having my Golden Gun with me....
a few people passed jokes on weither My Golden Gun was the stolen one from a a week before the event.. but my replica's value is sure to soar... now that Lamont has held the Gun and its been at pinewood etc .... ) I wish.... )
I would never sell the Gun ... anyway.. so its value is of no interest to me..
I will also be releasing an article on Stokes Pouges and .... my interview for the TV ... with some photos.. so much to read on my website tomorow... with some nice background music as always...
its my treat to you all to celebrate the QoS release which I am off to see tomorow night 9:00
EDIT; after creating an entire section devoted to the Pinewood trip with photos.. I have exceeded my webspace limit ) Pinewood section will be online next weekend )
Hello everyone, I'm a bit late to the party, I only just heard about the theft of whatever it was. I have two references to add to the pot. The first confirms what you've already heard, and the second will hopefully help raise the bar a bit regarding any future replicas (is the Corgi/Master Replicas project still on?)
Firstly there's a book which came out a while ago called “James Bond’s London” which discusses the prop a bit, saying that the hero prop and two static guns seen in the movie were made by the aforementioned high-end custom jewelry company in London, as the Colibri version was apparently found wanting. Colibri retained the film credit for the gun because that was in their contract.
The second reference is in the book "James Bond: The Secret World of 007" (at least in the 2001 edition). It's a beautiful detailed photograph of what I think you'll all agree must be one of the original props, revealing an elegance of line which sadly leaves all the replicas looking a bit clunky. I'd post a scan but apparently that might not fly with MGM.
Comments
I am not able to view the new photo being discussed - could someone e-mail it to me?
jason@originalpropblog.com
Thanks again,
Jason
http://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/collections/index_collections.php?gallery/project/25/162/
I think they just paint it gold.
ok I understand it was prototypes and they look a bit rough...
A gold waterman pen came up on ebay a few months back a put a few bids in but it went way too high for my pocket .. especialy for a pen and after all thats what it is a pen
I was told from a very very reliable source that A Wooden Golden Gun was made for Christopher Lee. and it was 100 pont perfect to the original. It was seen on a chat show in the late 70's I think Christopher lee was getting interviewed by Terry Wogan ... and Mr Lee pulled the gun out of his jacket. I have never seen the footage myself.
technicaly I dont see Peter Nelson's gun as an original used in the film if it has the 2 lighters stuck together design.. it is a prototype... still a fantastic peice I am not doubting it in any way.. I am meerly stating it was not used on screen..
www.freewebs.com/scaramangasgoldengun
www.facebook.com/QuartermasterProps
Thanks,
Jason
look closely at the picture of the Colibri Golden gun jason posted up for me, look at the cigarette case very very closely, you can barely see the ( S ) on the cigarette case, the pen on this picture is a waterman pen, the picture does not give this gun any justice and details can't be seen, this is the same gun shown in the article i had mentioned before,
Kan i have a picture of the Golden Gun you're referring too, it's one where Christopher lee is holding a bullet to load onto the Gun with the lighter opened the opposite way.
037
www.freewebs.com/scaramangasgoldengun
www.facebook.com/QuartermasterProps
i will send you the pic of scaramanga loading the GG.
Leo
www.freewebs.com/scaramangasgoldengun
www.facebook.com/QuartermasterProps
"…. Colibri made the actual golden gun, which came together by assembling a cigarette case, lighter, cuff links and pen. It was gorgeous, and was all diamond cut. But someone made the mistake of giving it to an actor - I don’t know who or how - to play around with and it was dropped, smashing into tiny pieces.
A frantic art director came running into my workshop and said, "they’ve busted the gun!" and he asked me if I could make another one. I asked how long, and he said, "You’ve got a little more than tomorrow." I said I’d need a little more than two weeks, at least.
I got together with a colleague of mine, Curly Currs, who was a gunsmith, and we set about making another one, out of more durable brass. The thing was, we knew that it then had to go over to Ireland to be diamond cut, as that was the only place that it was done, and that would add days.
The film schedule was re-arranged, and we worked around the clock. We made it in just over a week, and flew it to Ireland. It was on stage within a fortnight of the "incident". Of course, we all realized that Colibri’s mistake was in making only one of the guns; really, they should have had a standby one too, but we all live and learn."
There is also a picture of A golden gun captioned "The golden gun from The Man With The Golden Gun. This is all on pages 63 & 65 of the book. Sorry, I'm not in a position to post pictures. Peter mentioned this to me the other day, but this was the first time I've been in a position to post about it - and as I proof read the book I should have remembered earlier.
HI Kan
Peter Nelson's GG and the GG picture i sent, same GG, both pictures are very bluury but both have the same type lighter and waterman pen,plus the same S as the one in Christies Book {[]
037
It is very very closed, but look at the butt of the gun - some how it look different.
Kan
are you talkiing about the cigarette case or the lighter, the picture that i sent is identical to the picture of the GG that sold in the Christies auction, compare both pics side by side, look at the picture i sent you and look very closely to the cigarette case and look for the "S" on it, it has the same trigger cuff-link cigarette case with jewel, and the lighter.
Leo
I bow down to your superior knowledge as always. You should visit us more often. I have diddly knowledge when it comes to GG's. And you are THE Bond gun guru {[]
I met up with Peter Lamont at Pinewood studios and had a very interesting chat with the legend himself. I gave him my one off golden gun replica to hold for a photograph with me and we had a chat ...
I am going to keep certain things he said to myself and for the article I am writing about the event...
All I can say for now is that Peter lamont who designed and made the golden gun ... is this..
Peter Lamont still has his original model ... which he made from balsa wood featuring a real waterman gold pen...
and asked colibri to replicate which turned out to be a complete mess and was not used at all by the film or any of the actors involved..
he then took his prototype model which he still has... to a silver smith in London ... who made the 3 film guns exact to his specifications and model in silver and gold plated...
. and Eon still have all 3 models and peter still has his original model ... there is only 3 original's and they were all made by ROSE a silver smith in London... at the time of the film.. 2 were solid and one of them could fire a cap and the other could assemble and disasemble...
so any of the suposed prototypes etc .... there either fan made or they were made for the film etc but never used and were never on the film sets or locations or used by any of the actors involved...
www.freewebs.com/scaramangasgoldengun
www.facebook.com/QuartermasterProps
I could not find the picture of the information pack you were referring too on yourprops.com, to my knowledge SD studios only gave out two B/W pictures and towards the end of SD a third picture was included, one picture is Scaramanga pointing the GG standing in front of a boulder.
second picture Scaramanga on Hi-fat's desk looking down on the the GG.
third picture Scaramanga assembling the gun on Hi-fat's desk.
The B/W picture of Scarmanga loading the GG was not provided by SD studios, i'm not saying if was never done but for the most part the picture of Scaramanga loading the gun (not assembling it) was not provided by SD.
The picture i'm referring to is of Scarmanga assimilating loading the GG with to an open colibri lighter, it shows the intent to load the gun but this was impossible due to the fact that it was an actual lighter with no slot or room for a bullet.
I only say this because of six SD studios GG information packs i have had, not one pack contained the picture we are referring too.
037
I have fantastic photos of peter Lamont holding my Golden Gun replica I am still writing the article about Pinewood but photos will be on my website shortly...
AlSO ... I will be on Scottish TV next week on the 5:30 show talking about the Bond props and gadgets and showing a few of them on screen ... so watch out for me ... cheers... it will be either tuesday or wednesday
www.freewebs.com/scaramangasgoldengun
www.facebook.com/QuartermasterProps
http://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/collections/index_collections.php?gallery/project/25/138/
will take another look.
Nice work Q! - Only you would go straight to the source of fact - one of the legends of production design responsible for years of award winning film work (Mr Ken Adam notwithstanding) and get the truth. - Well done! {[]
I like the way you say... trust me to go straight to the main source... to solve this issue... It was pure coinsidance realy meeting him at this point in time and having my Golden Gun with me....
a few people passed jokes on weither My Golden Gun was the stolen one from a a week before the event.. but my replica's value is sure to soar... now that Lamont has held the Gun and its been at pinewood etc ....
I would never sell the Gun ... anyway.. so its value is of no interest to me..
I will also be releasing an article on Stokes Pouges and .... my interview for the TV ... with some photos.. so much to read on my website tomorow... with some nice background music as always...
its my treat to you all to celebrate the QoS release which I am off to see tomorow night 9:00
EDIT; after creating an entire section devoted to the Pinewood trip with photos.. I have exceeded my webspace limit
www.freewebs.com/scaramangasgoldengun
www.facebook.com/QuartermasterProps
Firstly there's a book which came out a while ago called “James Bond’s London” which discusses the prop a bit, saying that the hero prop and two static guns seen in the movie were made by the aforementioned high-end custom jewelry company in London, as the Colibri version was apparently found wanting. Colibri retained the film credit for the gun because that was in their contract.
The second reference is in the book "James Bond: The Secret World of 007" (at least in the 2001 edition). It's a beautiful detailed photograph of what I think you'll all agree must be one of the original props, revealing an elegance of line which sadly leaves all the replicas looking a bit clunky. I'd post a scan but apparently that might not fly with MGM.
also read Peter Lamonts comments about the gun when I chatted to him at Pinewood on my website ..
www.freewebs.com/scaramangasgoldengun
www.facebook.com/QuartermasterProps
Full Resolution: Secret World Golden Gun
Jason De Bord