$500,000 for the James Bond Ursula Andress legend?
On November 12, 2020, numerous film costumes of important Hollywood stars will be auctioned in Los Angeles as part of the "Icons and Legends of Hollywood" auction. The most outstanding piece is the white belted bikini with which Ursula Andress as Honey Rider in the first James Bond movie ever made in 1962, "007 chases Dr. No", warbling a song with a diving knife and a shell as an immaculate goddess emerged from the sea. In a state of absolute rapture, James Bond finally began to sing the song "Underneath the mango tree", which was sung by the mermaid. This film scene is one of the most famous of all time. The recently deceased Sean Connery and Ursula Andress, who lives in Switzerland, made their breakthrough to absolute world stars and it was exactly this scene that paved the way for the worldwide triumphal march of the bikini, which had been fiercely controversial due to moral reservations about it.
Although the bikini was invented in 1946 by the Frenchman Louis Réard, at the time of its creation it initially caused a brief moment of horror and embarrassment, only to disappear again afterwards. The exposure of the navel was considered an unimaginable provocation. It was only in the course of the gradually emerging sexual revolution that Hollywood icons like Ursula Andress, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot, as well as the woman next door in a bikini, dared to go to the nearby bathing lake.
Also Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren under the hammer
In the auction, which can also be participated in online, over 900 historical Hollywood originals, including clothing worn by icons of the film industry, will change hands: Among them Marilyn Monroe's mackerel evening gown from "The 7th Year in the Darn" as well as two swimsuits by Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren. The BikiniARTmuseum is also being asked to add further exceptional pieces to its already existing unique collection of the world's first museum for swimwear and bathing culture.
Unimaginable $300,000 is the minimum bid for the James Bond bikini
We are curious to see who will flip the price of a family home onto the auction table for a few grams of film history. The BikiniARTmuseum is also already registered for the auction and thus has the "license to bid".
The auction "Icons & Legends of Hollywood" of the auction house "Profiles in History" will take place on November 12, 2020 in Los Angeles. The estimated auction value is between 300,000 and 500,000 US dollars. Paris swimwear expert Ghislaine Rayer, author of the book "Bikini: La légende" and curator of the BikiniARTmuseum, is looking forward to the auction with great anticipation: "Such an auction is an incomparable event. Already in 2001, the Dr.-No-Bikini from the actress's private collection was sold by the famous auction house Christie's in London for 40,000 pounds. I expect the value to increase many times over and expect a spectacularly high bid". "The auction will receive additional media attention and explosiveness due to the fact that the leading actor Sean Connery, Oscar winner and undisputed best James Bond actor of all time, died in his Nassau residence just under two weeks earlier at the age of 90," says Lisa Otten, historian of the BikiniART Museum. The now 58-year-old cinema classic continues to write film history.
The fan community can bid!
Who guesses the right auction price? At https://bikiniart museum.com/gewinnspiel you can make your personal guess at what price the James Bond bikini will change hands. Who has the best nose? The winners can look forward to great prizes from the BikiniARTmuseum, the world's first museum for swimwear and bathing culture.
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