Rare James Bond posters featuring Edinburgh-born Sean Connery fetch over £14,000
The posters included Dr. No, the original Bond movie that launched Edinburgh-born Connery to stardom in 1962.
Other iconic artworks promoted From Russia With Love (1963) as well as timeless thrillers Goldfinger (1964) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
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Hide AdThe posters, which hung outside cinemas more than 50 years ago to promote the earliest movies in the world's most popular spy series, are now highly sought after.
They went under the hammer at Bonhams in London, where they attracted interest from around the world.
The highlight -- an ultra-rare 30x40in British quad poster for From Russia With Love -- fetched £6,937. The poster -- featuring artwork by the Italian commercial artist Renato Fratini and the prolific British poster artist Eric Pulford -- showed a tuxedo-clad Connery in a classic suave pose, holding a pistol, surrounded by women including Daniela Bianchi, the Italian actress and Miss Universe runner-up who played Bond girl Tatiana Romanova.
A British poster for Goldfinger, featuring Connery with the late Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore and gold-covered Shirley Eaton as Bond Girl Jill Masterson, made £4,812, while a poster for Diamonds are Forever fetched £892 and a US poster for Dr. No made £1,402.
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Hide AdKatherine Schofield, Bonhams' head of entertainment memorabilia, said the prices highlighted the enduring international appeal of Bond -- and the former Capital milkman who remains, for many, the original and best actor in the iconic spy role.
She said: "There is a huge interest in early James Bond memorabilia, particularly featuring Sean Connery who remains to many people the original and best 007.
"Over the last ten years, early posters for Bond have increased in price significantly, particularly for the British quad posters. What people really want is the British poster for the British film about the British spy.
"I am not surprised by the strong prices we saw -- these posters are works of art in their own right. They have all the things people adore about James Bond from the suave looking Sean Connery to the women -- what more could anybody want?"
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Hide AdSir Sean, recently voted the best Bond in a Radio Times poll, played 007 in seven films before starring in hit movies including The Untouchables, for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor; Indiana Jones and the last Crusade, opposite Harrison Ford; The Hunt for Red October; and The Rock.
Ms Schofield added: "Sean Connery has been part of British culture for such a long time and when it comes to James Bond it's the famous phrase -- every man wants to be him and every woman wants to be with him."
Sir Sean, recently voted the best Bond in a Radio Times poll, played 007 in seven films before starring in hit movies including The Untouchables, for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor; Indiana Jones and the last Crusade, opposite Harrison Ford; The Hunt for Red October; and The Rock.
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