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I have continued to conduct further research into the history of the “golden gun” from the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun, following mainstream media reports that the original prop was stolen from Elstree Props at Elstree Studios.

Albert J. Luxford, the Gimmick Man

The following are scans from the book, Albert J. Luxford, the Gimmick Man – Memoir of a Special Effects Maestro, by Albert J. Luxford with Gareth Owen:

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Full Applicable Excerpt:

[Page 63 – Three. The Bond Years]

Actors!

Bert took a break on the next film, Roger Moore’s first, Live and Let Die, but was soon drafted for Moore’s second, The Man with the Golden Gun, after a little mishap on set.

Ah, yes. Don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for actors, but also know that they’re not all technical experts either, and don’t always appreciate what might go into making something. Well, a lighter company called Colibri made the actual golden gun, which came together by assembling a cigarette case, lighter, cufflink and pen. It was gorgeous, and was all diamond cut. But someone made the mistake of giving it to an actor – I don’t know who, or how – to play around with and it was dropped, smashing into tiny pieces.

A frantic art director came running into my workshop and said, “they’ve busted the fun!” and he asked me if I could make another one.

[Page 65 – Three. The Bond Years]

I asked how long, and he said, “You’ve got a little more than tomorrow.” I said I’d need a little more than two weeks, at least.

I got together with a colleague of mine, Curly Currs, who was a gunsmith, and we set about making another one, out of more durable brass. The thing was, we knew that it then had to go over to Ireland to be diamond cut, as that was the only place it was done, and that would add days.

The film schedule was re-arranged, and we worked around the clock. We made it in just over a week, and flew it to Ireland. It was on stage within a fortnight of the “incident.” Of course we all realized that Colibri’s mistake was in making only one of the guns; really, they should have had a standby one too, but we all live and learn.

The Quartermaster and Peter Lamont at Pinewood Studios

The following is a post on the public James Bond enthusiast discussion forum, Absolutely James Bond. This was published by scaramangasgoldengun (see his website, The Quartermaster):

I am going to put all this to rest….

I met up with Peter Lamont at Pinewood studios and had a very interesting chat with the legend himself. I gave him my one off golden gun replica to hold for a photograph with me and we had a chat …

I am going to keep certain things he said to myself and for the article I am writing about the event…

All I can say for now is that Peter lamont who designed and made the golden gun … is this..

Peter Lamont still has his original model … which he made from balsa wood featuring a real waterman gold pen…

and asked colibri to replicate which turned out to be a complete mess and was not used at all by the film or any of the actors involved..

he then took his prototype model which he still has… to a silver smith in London … who made the 3 film guns exact to his specifications and model in silver and gold plated…

. and Eon still have all 3 models and peter still has his original model … there is only 3 original’s and they were all made by ROSE a silver smith in London… at the time of the film.. 2 were solid and one of them could fire a cap and the other could assemble and disasemble…

so any of the suposed prototypes etc …. there either fan made or they were made for the film etc but never used and were never on the film sets or locations or used by any of the actors involved…

Obviously, there are some differences between these two accounts. I will continue to update this story as new information becomes available.

Jason De Bord