A Doctor Who costume worn by Tom Baker has sold for 12 times its estimated value at one of the biggest auctions of movie and television outfits in film history.

The costume, which incorporates a burgundy frock coat, brown tweed trousers and the Timelord’s trademark striped scarf, sold for £24,600, having originally been expected to fetch £1,500-£2,000.

The item - the most expensive purchase among early lots in the sale - is one of 400 outfits by Angels, the pre-eminent costume supplier, going under the hammer today at Bonhams in West London in what is said to be the UK’s largest auction of film and television costumes.

Also outstripping their initial estimates were the Batman and Robin outfits worn by David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Del Boy and Rodney in a 1996 Only Fools and Horses episode, which sold for £10,200 - double their estimate.

An Army jacket worn by actor Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army fetched £3,120, having been estimated at £600 - £800. And Richard Burton’s costume from the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days was estimated at £500 - £700 but sold for £3,840.

One of the gems yet to be sold, with an estimate of £50,000 - £60,000, is the cloak worn by Sir Alec Guinness to play Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars – an item all the more significant because of its apparent disappearance for 28 years, during which it was worn by an extra in The Mummy and hired out as a fancy dress costume.

The robe was eventually rediscovered during a clearout, after which it was restored to prominence at an exhibition of film costumes at Harrods.

Over the weekend, Bonhams transformed its saleroom into a something of a star’s dressing room, giving eager film fans the opportunity to try on some of the much-coveted items they might want to bid for.

The collection includes costumes that were worn by some of Hollywood's biggest names, from Errol Flynn and Al Pacino to Meryl Streep and Rachel Weisz, as well as outfits from classic British television shows.

Another highlight is a black wool dinner jacket lined with burgundy silk, worn by Sean Connery in the 1965 film James Bond film Thunderball and estimated at £30,000 - £40,000. It is one of the highlights of a number of Bond costumes to be sold today, together with Roger Moore's navy commander jacket from The Spy Who Loved Me and Pierce Brosnan's Brioni suit from Goldeneye.

Costumes from Indiana Jones, Titanic, Superman and Harry Potter also feature in the lots, as do several outfits worn by Madonna in the 1997 Eva Peron film biography Evita.

Tim Angel, chairman of Angels, said the time was right for the auction. “The joy of being in this business is that you know you are creating something that will help an audience immerse itself in a different world.

“The flip-side of creating such iconic costumes, that become so very famous and so firmly associated with key movies, is that they can never be used in other films or productions, nor can they be made available from our fancy dress shop.”

Jon Baddeley, of Bonhams, added that the collection was “without doubt the largest and most important archive of its type ever to come to auction.

“It will give film fans worldwide the unique opportunity to acquire clothing worn by their heroes in some of the most famous British and international films made over the last 60 years,” he said.

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