Propstore.com November Live Auction
ppw3o6r
Great BritainPosts: 2,271MI6 Agent
Early days but with the catalogue due to drop in a weeks time, Propstore have released a preview gallery:
Some may be surprised to see Sir Sean's bucket from You Only Live Twice listed for the live auction because I had gone to great lengths to ensure that the piece be exhibited and secured for posterity in a museum or the Bond Archive? so a spot of background. In January 2021, I contacted Michael G. Wilson personally and made a proposition for his consideration where if he/EON, a fellow gun collector, supported the appeal in the media to recover the stolen James Bond guns, said guns could be kept by The Archive if recovered?. Additionally, the helmet which was at the time exhibited at Bond in Motion in London could also be permanently retained by The Archive. His response was I felt a positive one so I had papers drawn up (a living will) with a solicitor of which he had a copy. He said someone would be in touch to take the proposition to the next step. Eleven months later he got Meg Simmonds to phone me to inform me the proposition was "against company policy as EON do not authenticate items!" (what has that got to do with the price of fish?) I smelt cattle and what they leave behind on that one! Without media support from a known personality from the Bond family and believe me I tried to appeal to them all including an Honorary Navel Commander (give me strength!) and a greedy Australian un-pc Tool!, the story died! The helmet is being placed on the auction block so it will hopefully raise sufficient funds where The Royal Armouries in Leeds can finally be in a position to offer a reward to recover the stolen guns because as a Government funded venue they cannot provide funds to effectively reward crime! It is with a heavy heart that I take this route to hopefully recover the guns which will then go straight into The Royal Armouries for permanent exhibit but I could think of no other way with the incredible lack of support from the industry to keep the story and the fact that there is a substantial cash reward alive! If this iconic artefact fails to sell I will be more than happy to return my prised possession to my collection as its consignment to Propstore on 24th March has left one serious hole to fill in my display cabinet!
Comments
That's fun; shame they don't seem to be showing the stuff in the BFI IMAX like they used to do. Rickmansworth is a bit of a slog 😊
As a Government funded venue, regardless as to where the money comes from, wouldn't it still be against the law for them to offer a reward as it is STILL being used to reward a crime?
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It's down to the wording. You can offer a reward for information leading to the recovery of said property. An individual may have found them while out walking the dog or found them wrapped in plastic in a river while fly or magnet fishing? As one pistol was dumped it is reasonable to assume that all 5 pistols may have been disposed of in a similar manner? otherwise all my efforts including the auction of the helmet is for nothing!! Not something I want to consider Ed.
Judging by the condition of the one recovered, I doubt they made the effort to wrap them in plastic or throw them aside where someone can stumble across them. However, as you are giving up a 'Holy Grail' in hopes of results...I wish you all the best luck!
As Indiana Jones said "That belongs in a museum" not in someone's collection where it will never be seen again.
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So will the bidder ultimately wind-up in prison?
Amazing item, just seen the propstore catalogue. All I can say is good luck, to quote TWINE "this is a game I can't afford to play" but will cross my fingers for a lottery win tonight.
Her Majesty’s loyal terrier, defender of the so called faith.
Catalogue JAMES BOND listings:
https://propstoreauction.com/auctions/catalog/id/318?page=1&view=grid&catm=any&order=order_num&xclosed=no&featured=no&key=james%20bond
The catalogue is some 584 pages, 1.5” thick covering the 4 day Mega Live Auction 👍
I have doubles of some of the items listed if anyone wants to trade/buy/sell. :)
Spoke to Art A. and Tim L. about the Bond and other offerings at Prop Store next month--it's a wide selection of treasures, particularly for Bonding!
Also, Grey Smith has left Heritage and is now a Prop Store poster lead! Very cool.
My hope for the YOLT Bucket is it raises enough money to find the missing items and fully prosecute/persecute/torture the thieves. One can see Bond shooting them all with the whole armory!
ooooooo, guess what? I have a picture of that helmet in the Bond in Motion museum when I visited back in 2017. The picture is grainy because the lighting was not great and people were not allowed flash photography. Plus it was high up out of people's reach thus not able to get a good close up picture.
That is not Sir Sean’ bucket. It was a helmet provided by Sir Ken Wallis’s estate and was at no time used in the production of You Only Live Twice! For a very short period of time both helmets were exhibited at Bond in Motion which was a little confusing!
In Japan, Wallis comes second, Sir Sean comes first.
To quote you John “now permanent home at The Shuttleworth Collection here in the UK on condition it remains in the UK & never be sold and this is cast in stone in the Donkey's will on file with the family solicitors!” What I don’t get is that you could easily raise the money with other less important items from your collection. Having witnessed last weeks Christie’s auction we all know that the helmet will easily exceed £100k and more likely fetch £250k Disappointed 😔
Fair comment Simon. My intention was to give the helmet to EON for the Archive which is still recorded in a living will but they did not hold up their end of the deal (not even slightly!) however if Little Nellie had gone to the US for Bond in Motion the helmet would have gone with her. I had offered the helmet to The Shuttleworth collection to be exhibited whenever Little Nellie was exhibited and they couldn't have been less interested in the proposition!
The story which I had hoped the media would pick up is not the sale of the helmet but why the helmet is being placed on the auction block? which has been met with as much interest from them as was shown by the Shuttleworth Collection.
John
Ultimately it’s your to do as you please with but I do feel disappointed after everything that you said when you acquired said bucket. We all are gutted for you about what happened with the burglary and the campaign that you have tried to maintain however this feels more about anger, dissatisfaction & money IMHO. It will now disappear into the ether and more than likely out of the UK.
I sincerely hope that I am wrong and that one day the guns re surface. 🙏🏻
There are some lovely things in there, let's just hope they end up in the right place.
I’m with Donk. Every collection he’s offered this item to has snubbed him or backtracked. I know how much his collection means to him and what the theft left him dealing with. If it means a glimmer of hope for him getting those guns back, I’m all for it. Sale of the helmet (if it realises a good price) will also mean increasing the inventory of weapons used in the films which will ultimately be available for the public to view. If the Shuttleworth Estate can’t be bothered with his genuine offer, and EON can’t be bothered with it either, then that’s some shine taken off the whole experience of renovating and owning the helmet from my point of view.
In the end, it’s not for us to question why Donk is selling it, or pointing out that maybe he should sell something else. He bought it, he put the work in to renovating it, displaying it. It’s his. And as to speculating that it will make over and above what’s needed, and questioning that, well that’s none of our business. It might not. This isn’t an EON charity auction. It won’t get those high prices. I hope it will do well though. But let’s not kick a man while he is down or question his motives over money, that’s an awful thing to have said. If you feel the need to be disappointed in someone, do it with those people who turned his generosity into disappointment. Not John, he really doesn’t deserve that.
Well said.
Regarding recent uncharitable comments about my motivation or greed for placing the YOLT helmet on the auction block, thank you ASP9mm for your kind words of support however the below document shows just how greedy I actually am. This was drawn up after Michael G. Wilson agreed in principle at least to support the appeal in the media to recover the stolen guns:
I should add that he was not asked to contribute a single red cent to help fund the reward!
As a footnote, if the helmet does not sell and I get hit by a bus tomorrow, my Brother as executor of my estate will hand everything over to EON as agreed on paper unless they feel uncomfortable about accepting the windfall when they have done less than bugger all to justify accepting it! 🤔
With regards to the Little Nellie auction helmet and its ownership legitimacy by myself, it has been suggested by a "self appointed expert" that there was only ever one helmet which was shared on location by Wing Commander Ken Wallis and Sir Sean Connery filming against a blue screen backdrop at Pinewood Studios. It was further suggested that the helmet was altered between the two locations. This is completely nonsensical because Mr Wallis flew in WA116-G ARZB while Sean utilised the Little Nellie stand in WA116-G AVDG and yet there was only one helmet? ....Really!
Regrettably it is believed that this allegation will and indeed did damage the sale of the helmet. Thank you Mr Harbour! however my thanks to The Wallis Estate who allowed the sale to go ahead unhindered after stating the helmet was not the stolen helmet but regrettably with less than a week to go the damage was done and the rot had set in!
Donk.
That is excellent news Donk and must be a great relief that the allegations made against you have been proved untrue. I just hope you do not harbour a grudge against this 'self appointed expert' who felt it necessary to make these accusations in the first place. 🥂
A Donkey NEVER forgets! 💀 or is that an elephant? I forget! 🙄 I do hope Mr Harbour gets bolloxed by someone like himself one day soon!
I think dumb people who don’t know Jack about anything, should keep their noses out of things that don’t concern them.
Jealousy Donk. That’s all it is.
What a relief to have both the Met and the Wallis family accepted the evidence and closed the matter once and for all. Now let's see a great result at the auction.
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Bidding overall seemed low, but the Brozza gun and Little Nellie goodies were the hit of the show! Yeah!!
I know! Great to see the helmet do well. But Brosnan’s PPK for £130k plus buyer’s premium? Wow!
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Mind blowing but the PPK was £162,500 including fees and there was 4 of them on production. 811590 has failed to sell on the last two Live Auctions @ £60k and that included the holster which sold for £10k including fees plus £2k vat .....FOOK! (I wonder which idiot Donkey purchased that?) 🙄 and wishes like hell he hadn't! 😪
The helmet went for £93,750.00 including fees:
https://propstoreauction.com/auctions/catalog/id/318?page=2&view=grid&catm=any&order=order_num&xclosed=no&featured=no&key=james+bond&sc=4471
Well…
I’ve come to the party a bit late. But I’m interested in all the comments about this helmet.
it used to be mine.
I’m sorry the expos etc didn’t work out and it ended up sold again. At least you got a huge profit on it! (Happy for you. No sour grapes)
It’s all rather like my attempts to give it to EON etc. Always met with indifference or silence.
it’s been entertaining reading people’s silly comments about it being the stolen one. All based on the fact I live in France. (I acquired it in the uk over 30 years ago, before I moved to France)
Anyway… glad you are all enjoying it all.
All the best to you, John. I hope it went to a good owner. And the sale helped you out.
P