James Bond’s Walther Gun $300k

Are movie props a good investment?

Since the global financial crisis I have met many people who were upset that their retirement plans were now on hold for another 5 years due to losses on the stock market or superannuation fund. Many have now diversified their investment portfolio to include ‘alternative investments’ which includes memorabilia and autographs.

An example I like to use is that of the Walther gun used in publicity shots for the James Bond franchise, which starred Sean Connery as the charismatic ‘James Bond’.

On the 29th of July 2013, James Bond’s Walther gun top performed at day two of the Profiles in History’s Hollywood Auction. The Walther gun, which is seen in publicity shots for four Bond films, most notably ‘From Russia with Love’ sold for $300,000.

The story behind the gun was that it was a last minute replacement in a publicity shoot, after it was discovered that the organisers had forgotten to bring Bond’s familiar Walther PPK. The actual photographer David Hurn practised air pistol target shooting and replaced the gun with his own, longer-barrelled Walther.

The air gun was last seen at auction at Sotheby’s in December 2012, when it made $195,672. Prior to this, it sold at Christie’s in 2010 for $437,501 making a 1036% increase on its pre-sale estimate of $20,000 and setting the world record for a James Bond gun.

You can see from this example, movie props can be a great investment and earn great returns, without having to wake each morning to read what has happened on Wall Street. Yes, not everyone can afford to splash out on a James Bond gun for $300,000 but you will be pleased to learn that movie props can start as low as $100.

After 13 years of being in this business I have met many actors with really unique props they acquired while being on set or had arranged to acquire rare props from the movie/television set as part of their performance contract. A couple decades later they come across them in storage and sell them for a pretty penny.

Outside of being a great investment, they also make spectacular talking points for guests to your home or office!