LONDON, May 5 -- A gold-plated typewriter belonging to British author Ian Fleming, creator of the fictional spy James Bond, was auctioned in Christies' London auction house Friday for 56,250 pounds ($90,500). An anonymous bidder sent representative Tony Quinn to Christies to snap up the typewriter, with strict orders to buy it at any cost. 'They told me to keep bidding,' said Quinn, a psychotherapist with connections to the entertainment business. 'Just go in there and buy it. That was my brief.' Quinn, who is Irish, refused to reveal the identity of the buyer, although he said his colleague was involved in the film industry. 'He's a James Bond fan, but I wouldn't call him a collector,' he said. Quinn also confirmed the buyer was not British. The gold-plated typewriter, commissioned by Fleming from the Royal Typewriter Company in New York in 1952 for $174, was valued at between 5,000 and 8,000 pounds ($8,000 and $12,800), but Christies said they expected it to fetch a higher price. 'We knew it would sell for more than the listed price,' said Christie's press officer Freya Sims. 'We had a lot of interest from abroad and we had six telephone lines going.' Also auctioned were paraphernalia and works by Britain's World War II Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill to coincide with Victory in Europe Day, including a signed note fetching 18,000 pounds ($30,000). But these were overshadowed by fierce bidding for Fleming's typewriter, which drew gasps of excitement from the crowd as prices spiraled.
Fleming gained worldwide recognition as the creator of the famous 007 agent James Bond series. He bought the typewriter after writing the first draft of the first Bond novel 'Casino Royale'. In accordance with family tradition, Fleming used the machine to type all his subsequent novels. It remained in the family after his death in 1964.
