Fleming’s uniform jacket sells for £14,000 at auction

THE NAVAL jacket of James Bond creator Ian Fleming has solf at auction for almost double its estimated price.

The coat, which he wore as a serving officer when the 007 character was first forming in his mind, sold for £13,750 at Bonhams, in London. It had been expected to fetch between £5,000 and £7,000.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who had inherited the jacket before it was put up for sale, said: “It doesn’t surprise me, but I had no idea what it would fetch. I am obviously very pleased. I don’t know who bought it but I hope they enjoy it.”

The double-breasted jacket also came with the accreditation card of John F.C. Bryce, foreign correspondent of the North American Newspaper Alliance, which was signed by Fleming in his capacity as European vice-president.

Fleming wore the coat during the Dieppe Raid of 1942 when he was in the Naval Intelligence Division.