[Metradio]

A handgun handed to Sean Connery in the opening scenes of Dr No in 1962 is to be auctioned.
The Walther PPK pistol was owned at the time by M actor Bernard Lee, who brought it on set when a prop was not available.
A letter signed by Lee confirms the then fully-active gun was the "first ever to appear in a James Bond film".


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-46360414


Mike


The extra markings on the pistol are a European deactivation proof and an earlier UK deactivation proof mark.

 

[DeutschlandUberAlles]

Fully functional during filming, then de-activated at a later time?


WTF!


FWIW, de-activation proof marks signify more then just a firing pin removal, as the link text infers.

 

[Metradio]

That's right, at the time of filming gun ownership was legal, later firearms were banned in the UK and the only legal way to hang on to it was to get it deactivated. Recently the law was tightened across Europe and deactivated firearms have to meet a tighter law before being sold (at the auction)..


https://dwsuk.org/Deactivated-Weapons-FAQ


Mike

 

[DeutschlandUberAlles]

Wow, If I was in that situation, the firearm would have been sold to someone in a country that allows "active" firearm ownership.


A true shame, turning a true "shooter" movie gun into a "hammer" post-production.


And here I thought myself incapable of hating restrictive gun laws any more. It just happened!

 

[Balogh]

The gun that Bond got in the movie "Dr. No" was a long-barreled PPK – which we usually simply call PP of course. I'm sure it'll be a very interesting auction.

 

[DeutschlandUberAlles]

Sarcasm ON......


Hope the UK MOT has realized 007s Sunbeam Alpine from Dr. No was an incredibly dangerous car for UK motorists on public motorways, when handled improperly and/or in the wrong hands (like curb jumping pedestrian killers). I'm sure the Alpine has had its pistons removed/crankcase perforated/ring and pinion gears welded together....... In the name of public safety! Thanks Gub'ment!


Sarcasm OFF.

 

[PPS1980]

No telling what further was done to it but the original note says:
"It was fully functional at the time. I have since removed the firing pin."

 

[Jimbo80]

The PPK wasn't used in Dr No. It was first used in FRWL. The pictured pistol would have been brand new when Dr. No was filmed.

 

[Kar98]

*cough* LP53 *cough*

 

[DeutschlandUberAlles]

The LP53 was the gun used in the movie poster. Never appeared in the movie.


The photographers gun.

 

[153]

Apparently the shots of this PPK in Dr.No were left on the editing room floor. The Bond gun throughout Dr. No was a PP ... I wouldn’t bid on this auction.

 

[Balogh]

*cough* LP53 *cough*

Well, I'd like to have the monetary equivalent of this LP 53 sold at an auction in 2010.

I wonder if the fake Bond PPK will fetch more than a hundredth its estimate of £80,000 at the auction. Will the gun explode at the moment the hammer falls?

[Please excuse the poor screenshot quality. I had to inflate the original file first because the forum shrinks all attachments to 50% at the moment.]

 

[halfmoonclip]

The best (worst?) part of this discussion was the enumeration of steps to deactivate a firearm.
Hardened steel pins, cut chambers, magazine blocks, milled bolt face...
All this has virtually nothing with making a firearm 'safe'; any one of the steps would have achieved that. It's more of a pathological hatred of firearms, and reminded me of medieval practice of hanging, drawing, quartering and burning of the hapless subject.

Moon

 

[153]

Due to issues with the “provenance” of this pistol, it has been withdrawn from auction.