A rare original British cinema poster for the first James Bond film, featuring the late Sir Sean Connery as 007 for the first time, is expected to fetch £4,000 at auction in Glasgow.
The iconic yellow poster, printed in England, was one of those distributed to cinemas around the UK to advertise the 1962 movie Dr. No.
The film launched the former Edinburgh milkman and amateur bodybuilder to global stardom at the age of 32.
The original 76cm x 101cm poster shows Connery in a tuxedo, holding a smoking gun, alongside original Bond-girl Ursula Andress and Joseph Wiseman as villain Dr. Julius No.
The poster will lead McTear's sale, "Shaken, Not Stirred: Toys, Pop Culture & Cinema feat. James Bond", where it is estimated to fetch £2,000-4,000.
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A poster from the same private collection, advertising the 1964 Bond classic Goldfinger is expected to fetch £1,000-2,000.
Another, designed to promote the 1971 thriller Diamonds Are Forever - Connery's final outing in the 007 series produced by Eon Productions - could make £100-200.
Based on Ian Fleming's 1958 novel of the same name, Dr. No was made on a low budget but established many of the themes that became synonymous with Bond films.
Distributor United Artists hired for its poster art the American illustrator Mitchell Hooks, who primarily designed covers for paperback novels.
Hooks' iconic artwork was a "triumph of design, storytelling, drama, sex, classic elegance and riotous colour", capturing perfectly what Bond was all about.
However, nobody could have predicted how successful the 007 franchise would become. Only a limited number of cinema posters were made and few survive.
James Spiridion, McTear's valuer and auctioneer, said: "Cinema and wider popular culture changed forever with the release of Dr. No starring Sean Connery as Bond in 1962, capturing as it did the zeitgeist of the 'Swinging Sixties'.
"The Vatican decried it as 'a dangerous mixture of violence, vulgarity, sadism and sex' -- a better review could not have been wished for.
"All the hallmarks of the franchise were defined in this first outing, from the gun barrel opening sequence to the exotic locations, the scene stealing 'Bond Girl' and the immortal line with which Connery introduces himself as 007.
"The remarkable success of the series has only served to heighten the importance of this first entry with Bond collectors around the world all vying to own original memorabilia."
The promotional posters were put up in theatres for a limited time, then taken down and often discarded, their scarcity adding to their current value.
Spiridion added: "Every serious collector owns or wants to own an original Dr. No poster and McTear’s are delighted to bring this example to auction."
The Shaken, Not Stirred: Toys, Pop Culture & Cinema feat. James Bond sale takes place at McTear's auction house in Glasgow on Thursday
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