Prototype Bond boat sells for £51k at spy auction
A prototype submersible speedboat featured in a James Bond movie sold at auction for £51,200.
Scubacraft SC3 was on set at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire when scenes were filmed in Q’s laboratory as part of the 2015 film Spectre.
It was sold by Bonhams as part of an espionage-themed auction; This auction included movie props and posters, as well as objects used during the Second World War.
Sales manager Rebecca Anthony said: “From fact to fiction, this sale has truly captured the imagination of collectors and demonstrates both the appeal of historical items in this area and the continuing appeal of Bond.”
At the same auction, which ended on Thursday, a Second World War German enigma machine sold for £203,600 (well above the high estimate of £160,000).
Machines like this were cracked at Bletchley Park when British codebreakers built the first computer devices to decipher them.
A Second World War German mystery machine sold for £203,600 [Bonhams]
Other items ranged from a 2008 edition of Ian Fleming’s complete works, which sold for £25,600, to a collection of D-Day intelligence manuals, which sold for £2,816.
A poster for the 1954 film Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, sold for £3,328.
Although Scubacraft could be glimpsed in a James Bond movie, it was first developed for use by real naval forces in the late 2000s.
Despite initial interest from national and international government sectors, only a single prototype was produced.
In 2015, the James Bond production team read about the craft online and requested that it appear in the background of a scene in Spectre.
This can only be glimpsed briefly in the film, where the boat’s engineering director also appears as an extra in Q’s workshop.
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