{"id":6538,"date":"2012-02-07T03:30:02","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T08:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=6538"},"modified":"2020-05-10T20:45:44","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T00:45:44","slug":"bond-james-bond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/02\/07\/bond-james-bond\/","title":{"rendered":"Bond, James Bond"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was shopping in my neighborhood on Saturday morning when I came upon a man selling second hand items at a table. Baseball cards in foil packets, DVDs, cookie tins – nothing I was particularly interested in. However, at the end of the table lay a caricature of Sean Connery in molded rubber. It was sort of weird, cartoonish James Bond doll. The head was three dimensional, but the body was flat. I pulled out my camera, took a photo, and went home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I showed the picture to Joe who liked it a lot and wondered if we should get it. We have more clutter than we care to catalog so we’re not always eager to add to the inventory. I decided to do a quick web search. I couldn’t find our miniature gentleman spy on eBay, so I Googled it<\/em>. I discovered on a toy collector site that it was a hand puppet, manufactured by Gilbert Toys<\/strong><\/a>, a now defunct company that was based in Westville, Connecticut<\/strong>. Mystery solved!<\/em> Being that my son has always been a big Bond fan, I had a change of heart, I grabbed my coat and ran out the door hoping that Mr. Bond was still there. He was, and the man sold him to me for ten dollars.<\/p>\n

Curious as to its age, I did a little more research and saw that the James Bond puppet is one of the items on the wish list of David from ToyNerd –<\/p>\n

Let’s face it, as collectors we all have our\u00a0thing<\/em>, that special something that we are always on the look out for. A particular figure, a certain spaceship, a cool robot, whatever it is it just seems to capture our imagination. I believe in many ways it is these near unobtainable items that keep us interested in the hobby for years on end. As you may have guessed by the varied content of this blog I have very wide and diverse tastes. That leads to the fact that there are many items I am forever on the hunt for. One such item comes from the James Bond franchise.<\/p>\n

At about 14″ tall and 8″ wide this is a rubber hand puppet from 1966 made by the company Gilbert. Awesome right? Despite being very stylized you can see that the manufacturer nailed the face sculpt, it is amazing. You can imagine that due to the age and the fragile nature of the piece that it is rare. Well you would be correct my friends. I have only ever seen one of these, in person, ever! They do show up on eBay from time to time and predictably they have hefty price tags attached.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Do you expect me to talk?<\/p><\/div>\n

Gulp.<\/em><\/p>\n

I haven’t felt this lucky since I won a four-foot tall inflatable rabbit from Mister Donut!!!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I was shopping in my neighborhood on Saturday morning when I came upon a man selling second hand items at a table. Baseball cards in foil packets, DVDs, cookie tins – nothing I was particularly interested in. However, at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,872],"tags":[1305,110,1215,333,1313,1307,1304,1306,1308,1303,1311,1310,1309,1312,347,336],"class_list":["post-6538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-trash-or-treasure","tag-1305","tag-1960s","tag-1215","tag-connecticut","tag-espionage","tag-gentleman-spy","tag-gilbert-toys","tag-goldfinger","tag-ian-fleming","tag-james-bond-hand-puppet","tag-made-in-america","tag-scottish","tag-sean-connery","tag-spy","tag-toy","tag-vintage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-1Hs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20443,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2016\/03\/12\/never-say-never-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":6538,"position":0},"title":"Never Say Never Again","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"March 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"PLUS 2 ALL NEW BLOCKBUSTERS!!! I was a junior at The Philadelphia College of Art when I took this. I had loaded up my trusty, Sears-branded SLR with color film rather than the Pan-X I had used for the Photo Elective in the previous year. I was probably carrying the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Never Say Never Again","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1644\/25100865024_4b34332f3f_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1644\/25100865024_4b34332f3f_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1644\/25100865024_4b34332f3f_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41584,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/09\/27\/a-james-bond-bait-and-switch\/","url_meta":{"origin":6538,"position":1},"title":"A James Bond Bait and Switch","author":"Joe","date":"September 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember seeing this issue of The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu back in 1975 sitting on a shelf among lurid detective magazines and other black and white comics like Creepy and Eerie at Davis Drug in Westville, NJ. I was never a fan of Marvel's line of martial arts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45958,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/09\/25\/terrible-movie-great-soundtrack-the-unlikely-brilliance-of-casino-royales-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":6538,"position":2},"title":"Terrible Movie, Great Soundtrack: The Unlikely Brilliance of Casino Royale\u2019s Music","author":"Joe","date":"September 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in the day, I stumbled across a song that grabbed me and wouldn\u2019t let go. It was on WPEN, a Philadelphia \u201ceasy listening\u201d station that\u2019s long gone, catering to the Geritol set with its smooth, unhip vibes. I\u2019d heard the track before, probably during a TV broadcast of Casino\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Casino-Royale-title-card.jpg?fit=900%2C437&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Casino-Royale-title-card.jpg?fit=900%2C437&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Casino-Royale-title-card.jpg?fit=900%2C437&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Casino-Royale-title-card.jpg?fit=900%2C437&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4827,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/10\/26\/condorman\/","url_meta":{"origin":6538,"position":3},"title":"The Greatest TV Show EVER – Condorman","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Condorman or Seigi no shinboru Kondoruman (\u6b63\u7fa9\u306e\u30b7\u30f3\u30dc\u30eb \u30b3\u30f3\u30c9\u30eb\u30de\u30f3) from 1975 -- It's sort of a delirious combination of the 1966 Batman series, Gatchaman, The Space Giants, James Bond and maybe Yo Gabba Gabba. I was checking out what was new in uploads to The Internet Archive when I discovered this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/condorman-villains.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/condorman-villains.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/condorman-villains.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40774,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/06\/14\/date-with-an-amazon\/","url_meta":{"origin":6538,"position":4},"title":"Date with an Amazon?","author":"Joe","date":"June 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Sure, comic-books were filled with advertisements aimed at 98 lb weaklings, craven cowards and even wallflowers with two left feet, but what about the vertically challenged? Is your lack of stature holding you back? Are you finding that you may not measure up? Is that gorgeous gal at the dance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/taller-instantly.jpg?fit=640%2C484&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/taller-instantly.jpg?fit=640%2C484&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/taller-instantly.jpg?fit=640%2C484&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3014,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/06\/13\/what-i-miss-about-comicscelebrity-endorsements\/","url_meta":{"origin":6538,"position":5},"title":"What I Miss About Comics…Celebrity Endorsements","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"June 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Before anybody knew who they were. Do you know this couple? Well, she's not really anybody, but she's probably a nice person, a good wife and mother, and probably a fairly decent grandmother at this point. At the time she was just a prop to be propped up by then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Curious Clutter"","block_context":{"text":"Curious Clutter","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/curious-clutter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/arnuld.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}