Tag Archives: james bond

Sir Roger Moore

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The Personal Collection – Auction Review

For the art world, autumn brings a new season of exciting and ‘must view’ auctions. Last week Bonhams, London held one of the most electrifying – ‘Sir Roger Moore – The Personal Collection’.

Sir Roger Moore (1927 – 2017), was one of the most recognisable and treasured actors of his generation. He was widely adored by fans for his appearances as James Bond, as well as Simon Templar in The Saint and Lord Brett Sinclair in The Persuaders! to name a few.

The James Bond film ‘Octopussy’ (1983) starring Sir Roger Moore captures a fictional auction, with competitive bidding in a crowded saleroom (on that occasion for a “Faberge egg”). This scene could almost have been replicated on the sale day at Bonhams busy New Bond Street galleries.

The ‘white glove’ sale included over 220 lots, which took over nine hours to sell. The collection, which was being offered on behalf of the late star’s family, unsurprisingly garnered widespread presale interest from the media, enthusiasts, and collectors alike.

Much of the sale focused on Sir Roger Moore’s acting career, with scripts, awards and costumes all going under the hammer. Many lots related directly to James Bond, which is one of the strongest areas in film memorabilia collecting. Fittingly, this year marks 50 years since the actor’s first appearance in the role. Sir Roger was enormously influential as a taste maker in gentlemen’s fashion. Therefore, clothing, accessories and timepieces were some of the lots ‘to watch’. Antiques and art from the stars collection indicated his taste as a collector.

Early in the auction, various desk accessories, pens and stationery were offered produced by the likes of Montblanc, Cartier, and Gucci. Lot 3 was one such lot, an ‘RM’ monogrammed Gucci address and notebook – despite the original pages having been replaced with facsimiles (and the numbers having been removed) it offered a glimpse into Sir Roger’s showbusiness circle, including details for figures such as Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Kirk Douglas, HRH Princess Margaret, Paul McCartney, and Sidney Poitier. Estimated at £1,000 – 1,500 it achieved £6,400 (inc BP). Perhaps more surprising was the price achieved for Lot 6 a Morocco leather monogrammed stationery rack. The lot which included Sir Roger Moore letterheaded notepaper was estimated at £80 – 120. The final total sales price was £8,960 ( inc BP).

Sir Roger was an avid backgammon player and as James Bond notably competed on screen against villain Kamal Khan in a key scene of the movie Octopussy. The market for backgammon is currently particularly strong – the buzz during the viewing indicated the two lots of cased backgammon sets (Lot 10 and Lot 11) would far exceed their estimates.

Lot 10 was a personalised set embossed with the actor’s name. The footnote for the lot credited this example as having been used on the set of James Bond by Sir Roger to play against producer ‘Cubby’ Broccoli. The pre-sale estimate of £300 – 500 indicated the value of the set rather than the interesting provenance, it eventually sold for £15,360 (inc. B.P). The second of the sets Lot 11 was a more modest travelling willow basket example, estimated at £100 – 150, despite the estimate it fetched £10,880 (inc. BP).

In the world of James Bond poster collecting, examples printed in Australia are amongst the most affordable. However, for those included in such a collection this trend, would be tested. Four of the Lots (36, 42, 64 and 164) were Australian daybill posters for the films The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For You Eyes Only and A View To A Kill. Having each been signed by Sir Roger, they were offered with the same estimate of £500 – 700 each, a combined total presale low estimate of £2,000. Their eventual combined total was £46,720 inc BP. Having achieved individually £8,960; £10,240; £14,080 and £13,440 inc BP.

The James Bond franchise provided many modern-day collectors with their first glimpse into the world of luxury watches. Therefore, some of the most sought pieces in the collection were James Bond related watches. The highest price of the entire auction was achieved by Lot 92 a cased presentation set of twenty 007 watches produced by Swatch. Manufactured in 2002 to celebrate the James Bond film anniversary these sets typically fetch at auction between £4,000 – 6,000. This example however had been personally dedicated to Mr. Roger Moore. It had been estimated at £10,000 – 15,000 and sold for £76,660 (inc. BP).

Omega is a brand with a strong connection with James Bond. Lot 158 was an Omega Seamaster bracelet watch, produced in 2012 as a Limited Edition to celebrate ’50 Years of 007’. The clasp bore the inscription ‘To Roger love from Michael and Barbara’, which although not mentioned in the catalogue, may have indicated that the piece was a gift from Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Sold with the accompany box, card and instructions it achieved £57,550 (inc BP, estimate £20,000 – 30,000). The following item Lot 159 was also an Omega wristwatch this time a Speedmaster Automatic MK40 triple calendar chronograph, inscribed ‘Roger Moore’ and dated November 1996. It was offered with presentation box and original warranty – despite an estimate of £5,000 – 7,000 it sold for a total of £61,360.

Sir Roger Moore was known particularly for his impeccable sartorial choices. For the style aficionados the auction included many of his suits, jackets, ties, and cufflinks. Highlights from the sale had even been previewed on Saville Row, with Gieves & Hawkes. Sir Roger had a close association with the designer and tailor Doug Hayward and several pieces designed by him went under the hammer. Foremost amongst them was Lot 170, a double-breasted dinner suit made for Sir Roger’s role in A View To A Kill and worn at the Royal premiere of the film in 1985. The fully labelled costume, the ultimate in James Bond style, sold within estimate at £25,600 (estimate £20,000 – 30,000). To compliment this outfit Lot 178 estimated at £400 – 600 was two black silk bow ties, including one by Turnbull & Asser. They sold for £6,144 (inc BP).

Lot 80 was a collection of twelve ties including five designed by Hayward, with others by Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren. The collection sold for a little over a thousand pounds each, with a selling price of £12,160 (estimate £400 – 600).

Roger Moore was well-known for his association with skiing, emphasised by his stunning downhill scenes featured in the James Bond films. However, many of these snowbound acrobatics were performed by a stunt double. According to an interview given by his son Geoffrey Moore prior to the auction, Roger Moore’s film contract did not allow him to ski. In fact, Sir Roger apparently did not take up skiing until preparing for filming of A View To A Kill in 1985. Afterwards Sir Roger was passionate about the sport.

One of the most desirable pieces in the auction was Lot 166 a white ski suit by Bogner purchased for, and identical to that, worn by Sir Roger in the pre-title sequence of A View To A Kill. Such instantly recognisable film costume is rare on the open market. It was sold within the estimate of £15,000 – 25,000, with the total sales price £28,160.

Towards the latter portion of the sale six lots of personally owned skis were included. The top Lot here was 219 a pair of Kästle skis bearing Roger Moore’s printed signature, offered together with a pair of Interport poles. Against an estimate of £800 – 1,200 they sold for £4,864 (inc. BP).

Amongst the awards the ‘star’ lot was saved until last. Lot 224 being the presentation plaque given to Sir Roger Moore to commemorate the placement of his Star on the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame. His ‘Star’ was unveiled three days prior to his 80th birthday on the 11th of October 2007. The commemorative piece was estimated at £10,000 – 15,000 and was offered almost 9.5 hours after the sale had commenced at almost 10:30pm. The final lot was eventually sold to a room bidder for a hammer price of £19,000 (£24,430 inc BP).

The final sale total reached just over £1.1 million against a pre-sale high estimate of around £415,000.

How many 00’s in a pair of 007’s cufflinks?

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When embarking on a valuation, a valuer never knows what they will see and sometimes it’s the little, seemingly lower value items at the bottom of the jewellery box that are the most surprising.
I was asked to do a valuation for a large quantity of jewellery and watches. After appraising all the diamond and gem set pieces and the significant collection of watches, there was just an assortment of silver cufflinks remaining. I decided to value them in groups, starting with the designer ones: Tiffany & Co, Tom Ford, Cartier. I imagined they would be £200- £300 a pair. However this was not the case.

Later, when I started to do my research I discovered that Tom Ford do not sell silver cufflinks. The pair in question were oval in outline with a mother of pearl panel and the engraved initials ‘JB’. Apparently Tom Ford had specially manufactured four pairs of these cufflinks for the James Bond movie Spectre. One of these pairs had been sold at the Christies Spectre auction in 2016 for £74,500!

Needless to say I nearly fell off my chair! I re-contacted the client and asked for some information about the provenance of these cufflinks. Had they been purchased at auction? The response was ‘no they were a gift from Barbara Broccoli’.

In the article it mentioned that EON Productions had the two other pairs of cufflinks stored in their archives, so I decided to contact them. They were incredibly helpful and replied to my email almost immediately. They confirmed that Tom Ford had produced the cufflinks for the movie at a cost of £300 per pair. They had two pairs in their archives insured for the value of £3000 each. One pair had been gifted to a friend by the producers and one pair had been sold at auction for £74,500.

So what is the value of these cufflinks – £300, £3000 or £74,500? If the client decided to sell them at auction it could be argued that they would command £74,000 again, maybe even more. Movie memorabilia is highly desirable and sought after, especially when it comes to James Bond.

I explained my findings to the client and it was decided that an Agreed Value should be placed on these cufflinks, a value that the client and insurance company were comfortable with, that would be paid out if anything should happen to the cufflinks.

It was such a fascinating valuation. It really highlighted the fact that many clients have been gifted items of jewellery and they have absolutely no idea of their value, let alone have them listed for insurance purposes. When was the last time you had the contents of your jewellery box professionally reviewed? Diamonds may be forever, but be careful not to overlook the other treasures.