CBn earlier reported with details on an aucion in March that would be featuring several costumes from the James Bond films, including Sean Connery’s dinner jacket from Thunderball.
The Angels Star Collection, UK’s largest film & television costumes at Bonhams
A remarkable collection of costumes created and supplied by Angels The Costumiers, for some of the most iconic international film and television in history sold at Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London, today (Tuesday 6 March 2007), in what is believed to be the UK’s largest and most important archive of film and television costumes to come to auction. More than 400 costumes were available to collectors and amateur fans alike.
In a jam-packed saleroom, bids were relayed to the auctioneers of the day, Pippa Stockdale and Jon Baddeley. Ownership of Obi Wan Kenobi’s cloak was battled for by two telephone bidders. Four enthusiasts for Doctor Who fought a bidding war for related TV costumes. Items throughout the sale fetched between eight to 20 times their estimates. Costumes from James Bond, Monty Python, Braveheart, Only Fools and Horses, Four Weddings and a Funeral also proved very popular with the bidders.
Jon Baddeley, Group Head of Collector’s Department at Bonhams, comments: “We are delighted at the results of this sale. There has been a tremendous international interest in what is normally considered to be British cult television and film which is very exciting to see.”
Tim Angel, Chairman Of Angels, comments: “We are delighted at the success of today’s Bonhams sale of Angels costumes. We always intended for this sale to appeal to both the big international collectors of memorabilia and also to members of the general public keen to get their hands on a piece of movie history, and we are pleased that today has seen our wishes fulfilled and established that there is a clear market for such memorabilia. We will be giving serious consideration to another search of the Angels archive in the near future.”
The top costume prices in the sale were:
Cloak worn by Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars – £54,000
Dinner suit worn by Sean Connery from Thunderball, 1965 – sold for £39,700
Full outfit worn by Mel Gibson as William Wallace in Braveheart – sold for £25,200
Promotional costume worn by Tom Baker as Dr Who – sold for £24,600
A grey linen overcoat worn by Gary Oldman as Sirius Black from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – sold for £15,600
Fur Coat worn by Diana Rigg from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – sold for £12,960
Navy Battle dress jackey worn by Roger Moore from The Spy Who Loved Me – sold for £11,760
Batman & Robin suits worn by David Jason & Nicholas Lyndhurst in Only Fools & Horses – sold for £10,200
A full medieval suit worn by Kevin Costner in Robin Hood Price of Thieves sold for £7,200
Tim Angel, Chairman of Angels, and fifth generation of the family firm comments further, “The joy of being in this business is that you know you are creating something that will help an audience immerse itself in a different world. Our costumes are famous for fulfilling the exact requirements and needs of the film, and are researched and tailored to the highest standard. Whether it is the cloak of a Jedi knight from a galaxy far, far away, or the most elegant suit worn by Her Majesty’s best secret agent, our job is done if the audience are convinced by the authenticity and effectiveness of the costumes shown on the screen. The flip-side of creating such iconic costumes, that become so very famous and so firmly associated with key movies, is that they can never be used in other films or productions, nor can they be made available from our fancy dress shop…for obvious reasons! With over a century and a half’s worth of costumes on the racks, each with ever increasing insurance requirements, and space at a premium, it seemed the right time for us to allow collectors and fans the chance to take home a piece of the movie magic.”
ANGELS – SUPPLYING COSTUMES FOR A CENTURY AND A HALF
Angels, founded in 1840, is the world’s longest-established supplier of costumes to the film, theatre and television industry. Angels shop became popular with theatre actors who, at that time, had to purchase their own clothes and costumes for auditions and performances. It was Morris Angel, the company’s founder, who allowed actors to hire, rather than buy their outfits – the first man to make such an innovation. With the advent of cinema, the Angel family made their second major diversification by supplying costumes to the fledgling movie industry and, through primary company Angels The Costumiers, has continued to be a quiet and constant success story within the British (and international) film industry. Since 1946, when costumes supplied by Angels received an Academy Award for Laurence Olivier’s Henry V, Angels The Costumiers has supplied costumes to a further 26 movies that have won Oscar, for ‘Outstanding Achievement In Costume Design’ for work undertaken on major international films including Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, Titanic, Gladiator and most recently Memoirs of a Geisha. At this year’s Academy Awards, Angels costumes are in the running again for costumes supplied for Marie Antoinette and The Queen. Angels The Costumiers is based in Hendon, and boasts a warehouse containing over a million and a half costumes on five miles of hanging rails.
Below are selected highlights:
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JAMES BOND 007
Sean Connery’s dinner jacket worn in Thunderball in 1965 will be sold. Made in blackwool and lined with burgundy satin,this jacket fetched £39,700.
Original outfits worn by Pierce Brosnan in three of the films he starred in from 1995 to 1999 from GoldenEye (1995) featured. Brosnan’s Brioni grey three piece-suit sold for £10,152.
In GoldenEye, a new Bond for the 1990s was created, when Pierce Brosnan took over as 007. The long-established house of Brioni in Rome, supplied him with their famed look of style and elegance. Brioni has a stipulated way of tailoring their suits with a minimum of 185 steps to produce the finished article which creates an ageless fashion statement. The grey Brioni suit was used extensively throughout the film, most memorably in the scene between Alec Trevelyan and Bond in the disused communist statue park.
A wine coloured ski suit worn, with fur-lined hood, worn by Sophie Marceau in The World is Not Enough, sold for £1,800.
Outfits worn by Roger Moore – James Bond from 1973-1985 – include a navy battle dress jacket, complete with commanders epaulettes and inner pocket for the Walther PPK sold for £11,740. Made for The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977, this jacket was used in the finale of the film during the battle between Bond and the Stromberg operatives on the super-tanker.
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