A FAB IDEA

Recent news story of attempted New Zealand jewel theft is hard to swallow but absolutely true.

In Auckland, New Zealand, police have charged a man who several days ago attempted to steal a $19,000 Fabergé Egg locket commemorating the egg that appeared in the 1983 James Bond adventure Octopussy. The thief was no master criminal—he simply swallowed the locket and tried to walk out of the jewelry store. Cops responded within minutes of being called and arrested the thirty-two-year old thief, so far unidentified, while he was still on the premises. As of yesterday, when this report hit the wires, Auckland police inspector Grae Anderson had told media that the locket hadn’t yet been recovered. We thought three days was about the max something could remain in the digestive tract, but don’t quote us—we’re not doctors, we just pretend sometimes.

We can be pretty decisive when the occasion requires. If we owned the store we’d have simply punched the thief over and over in the gut until he vomited. Not something you want to see at a swanky jewel seller, and we’d probably have ended up hit with a personal injury lawsuit, but it still seems like an expeditious way to save the locket from a trip through someone’s filthy digestive tract. The item is made from eighteen karat yellow gold and green guilloché enamel, features sixty white diamonds and fifteen blue sapphires, and opens to reveal a small gold octopus set with two black diamond eyes. So with all its nooks and crevasses—plus the chain—the fact that it hasn’t shown up means it could be stuck. Worse, it might never be made completely shit free again without damaging it. But we’re not jewelry cleaners either.

Here’s what we do know, though. Rich collectors have paid out the wazoo for items as bizarre as Lee Harvey Oswald’s dirt encrusted coffin, Marilyn Monroe’s chest x-ray, artist Marc Quinn’s macabre cast of his own head made from frozen blood, and Eva Braun’s magical panties. Therefore, the high end collector’s market being what it is, we think that because it was swallowed by a hapless thief, the Octopussy locket will probably increase in value—permanently embedded fecal molecules and all.

Update: It finally showed up six days after being swallowed.

New Zealand, Auckland, Octopussy, Roger Moore, James Bond

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

January 25

1949—First Emmy Awards Are Presented

At the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles, California, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presents the first Emmy Awards. The name Emmy was chosen as a feminization of “immy”, a nickname used for the image orthicon tubes that were common in early television cameras.

January 25

1971—Manson Family Found Guilty

Charles Manson and three female members of his “family” are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, which Manson orchestrated in hopes of bringing about Helter Skelter, an apocalyptic war he believed would arise between blacks and whites.

January 24

1961—Plane Carrying Nuclear Bombs Crashes

A B-52 Stratofortress carrying two H-bombs experiences trouble during a refueling operation, and in the midst of an emergency descent breaks up in mid-air over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Five of the six arming devices on one of the bombs somehow activate before it lands via parachute in a wooded region where it is later recovered. The other bomb does not deploy its chute and crashes into muddy ground at 700 mph, disintegrating while driving its radioactive core fifty feet into the earth.

January 23

1912—International Opium Convention Signed

The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague, Netherlands, and is the first international drug control treaty. The agreement was signed by Germany, the U.S., China, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam.

January 22

1946—CIA Forerunner Created

U.S. president Harry S. Truman establishes the Central Intelligence Group or CIG, an interim authority that lasts until the Central Intelligence Agency is established in September of 1947.

January 22

1957—George Metesky Is Arrested

The New York City “Mad Bomber,” a man named George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and charged with planting more than 30 bombs. Metesky was angry about events surrounding a workplace injury suffered years earlier. Of the thirty-three known bombs he planted, twenty-two exploded, injuring fifteen people. He was apprehended based on an early use of offender profiling and because of clues given in letters he wrote to a newspaper. At trial he was found legally insane and committed to a state mental hospital.

KISS AND TELL STORIES

We can't really say, but there are probably thousands of kisses on mid-century paperback covers. Here's a small collection of some good ones.

INCLEMENT WEATHER

Two Spanish covers from Ediciones G.P. for Peter Cheyney's Huracan en las Bahamas, better known as Dark Bahama.

DON GIOVANNI

Giovanni Benvenuti was one of Italy's most prolific paperback cover artists. His unique style is on display in multiple collections within our website.