Forty pieces are presently up for bid, while the remaining ten will be part of a live special auction this coming Friday, the date of which happens to be the 50th anniversary of the release of the first 007 movie, Dr. No.
Items available include everything from Daniel Craig’s swimming trunks, to the suction pads used in You Only Live Twice.
There are props, posters, clap-boards and costumes, and my favourite, the ten Tarot cards Jane Seymour used to play solitaire in To Live and Let Die.
Money raised will be given to a range of charities, including Unicef. Visit Christie’s website to learn more.
As described by the presenters, the exhibition is ‘a multi-sensory experience, immersing audiences in the creation and development of Bond style over its auspicious 50 year history’.
It’s a show about what made James Bond the style icon he is today – high fashion costumes, sets, gadgets, cars, exotic locals, death defying stunts, and of course, props.
It’s specifically the props that interested me in this story.
In the 1973 Bond film Live and Let Die, Jane Seymour plays a Tarot reader named Solitaire (see the video clip below) who uses a Tarot deck by Fergus Hall designed especially for the film.
As you might have already suspected, that very Tarot deck is on display at the Designing 007 show. What fun!
I have my own beat up copy of the deck and really like it. You can find it now under the name of The Tarot of the Witches, but I love that the backs of my cards say 007.
