The Property of a Lady

The Property of a Lady is a 1992 short spy film directed by and based on the  novel series by. It is based on the Fleming short story of the same name (included in 1967 and later editions of the short story collection ). In The Property of a Lady, the Secret Service learns that Maria Freudenstein, an employee known to be a double agent working for the Soviet Union, has just received a valuable item of jewelry crafted by Peter Carl Fabergé and is planning to auction it at Sotheby's. agent  suspects that the resident director of the KGB in London will attend the auction and underbid for the item, to drive the price up to the value needed to pay Maria for her services.

The Property of a Lady was released in North American theaters by on 10 July 1992 before . The British cinema release then followed on 18 December.

Plot
On a hot, dull day at the office, James Bond is having a very uneventful day at the Ministry of Defense headquarters, when Bond is informed by Mary Goodnight that he has been called in to M's office. MI6 has found that a unique Faberge egg has been sent to Maria Freudenstein, apparently as an inheritance. Customs recently intercepted the parcel in the registered mail which contained a piece of Fabérgé jewelery with a declared value of £100,000. He introduces him to Dr. Fanshawe. M explains that Fanshawe is an expert on antique jewelery and also an advisor to H.M. Customs and the CID on this subject.

Dr. Fanshawe explains that a Home Office warrant was obtained and the package clandestinely opened. Inside was the famous Emerald Sphere by Fabérgé and papers, in Russian and French, stating the provenance of the piece. The parcel was addressed to Freudenstein, and according to the provenance, she has inherited the Sphere from her grandfather, who originally commissioned it in 1917 to put his money into something palpable after foreseeing the Bolshevik revolution.

Freudenstein is, however, revealed to be a double, and unwitting triple, agent, an MI6 clerk inserted by the Soviets, but with the full knowledge of MI6, who compartmentalized her with a job sending fake reports to the CIA. MI6 suspects that the egg is her payment, and Bond agrees. He has the idea of watching the auction at which the egg will be sold to make her payday, expecting that her controller, the local KGB chief whom they've never identified, will be aware of the payment and will be bidding up the egg to make sure she gets the most money out of it. Upon identify him, they could declare him persona non grata and expelled from the country.

M agrees with the plan and lets Bond monitor the auction, and Bond gets an education from an expert,, then attends the auction. In the drama of the auction it is hard to identify a bidder due to the prearranged signals agreed with the auctioneer that don't make it obvious as to who's bidding. Bond eventually spots the bidder, ID’s him as the Soviet embassy's agricultural attaché, follows him back to the consulate. Bond then leaves with the satisfaction that they'll soon be ejecting an enemy agent out of Britain as persona non grata.

Cast

 * as
 * as Maria Freudenstein
 * as
 * as
 * as himself
 * as
 * as Dr. Fanshawe