Sir Michael Caine

DEAR old Sir Michael Caine has been in a few tight spots over the years: see-sawing off the edge of a cliff in The Italian Job, evading “bloody spears” thrown at him, confronting a flesh-chomping shark in admittedly the least thoughtful Jaws film and, even worse, dodging killer bee stings in The Swarm.

On Wednesday, however, it was the auctioneers at Bonhams in New Bond Street selling some of his career ‘mementoes’ that were left in a bit of sweat.

The challenge ahead of them I guess must have dawned on them as early as Lot 1: a 1964 poster promoting Zulu with a guide price of £1,000 to £1,500.

Ten minutes after the bidding started, interested parties, in increments of £100, were still haggling. The hammer finally came down at £14,625 – and that was just the first one. It was going to be a long, long afternoon

The same thing happened with posters for Alfie and Funeral In Berlin and so on, each smashing the guide price and taking ages to settle on a winning buyer.

The Muppet Christmas Carol crew bomber jacket that sold for £2,040. Image: Bonhams

Perhaps the auction is still going on now. There were 182 lots to get through.

And it wasn’t just things for the wall: the auction house had cufflinks, a director’s chair and some of his signature thick-rimmed glasses to sell; one pair of the latter reached more than five grand.

It’s all part of Caine’s downsizing. He said last year that he was moving out of his pile in Surrey with wife Shakira and finding a smaller, more manageable property in Wimbledon.

“It’s quite a wrench to part with so many treasured parts of my life and career, but it’s the right time to be moving on,” he said. “I hope these mementoes will give their new owners as much pleasure as they have given us.”

That wrench was probably softened a tad when he learned a gold Rolex watch sold for £125,250. In fact, in total, nearly £850,000 was collected, half a million more than the guide prices had predicted.

No wonder it took so long.

Even so, did Sir Michael really have to part with his bomber jacket given to cast and crew from The Muppet Christmas Carol?

Some might say his exemplary performance as Scrooge is the old rascal’s finest role to date; that or playing soccer with Pele and Russell Osman in Escape To Victory.

Someone eventually paid £2,040 for the coat.