UNITED KINGDOM – London, Sotheby’s // Octopussy (1983)
Sotheby’s is a world-known auction house – and plays a major role in both a Bond short story and a Bond film. Besides the place, the whole area is magic: London’s stylish neighborhood Mayfair!
Why Bond was here
What a skirmish: A Soviet general is gathering riches with the help of an Afghan prince and both smuggle it to Western Europe under the cover of a roadshow circus run by an Indian occultist named Octopussy. And one of the goods is a stolen Fabergé egg – then up for sale at the world-famous Sotheby’s auction house. So sure thing that James Bond (Roger Moore) has to pay a visit.
How you gonna get there
Sotheby’s is right at the aptly named New Bond Street in the heart of London in Mayfair. It’s a 20-minute-walk from Trafalgar Square or even just ten minutes from Picadilly Circus. Closest tube stations are “Bond Street”, “Oxford Circus”, “Green Park” and “Picadilly Circus”. The auction house is at No. 34-35 and easily recognizable thanks to it’s big blue flag hanging outside the entry.
Good to know
The auction scene in the movie is actually a nod to the Ian Fleming short story “The Property of a Lady”. So in the story, the Secret Service learns that a double agent working for the Soviet Union has received a Fabergé egg and is planning to auction it at Sotheby’s. Bond suspects that the resident director of the KGB in London will attend the auction and underbid for the item – as a measure to pay the double agent. Thus Bond attends the auction to spot the man.
The scene plays out a little different in the movie. But don’t bother to attend an auction at Sotheby’s to visit a Bond location. Only the exterior is used in “Octopussy”, the auction itself was filmed at a set in Pinewood.
Mayfair is always a splendid area to breath in some Britishness. The famous Savile Row is just around the corner of Bond Street, so is Picadilly and Regent Street. The whole area offers great (and expensive) shopping opportunities. A good place to fill your stomach is Plants in nearby Weighhouse Street. Then if you need to read up a bit of Bond history, head down Bond street for London’s oldest bookstore: Hatchards.
© 2024 Huntingbond (1,3), © 1983 Danjaq S.A. & United Artists Corporation (2)