Unsmoked Churchill Cigar Fetches Thousands

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) Jun 4th 2010 at 2:02AM

Sir Winston Churchill memorabilia was good for more than half a million pounds. A collection belonging to Malcolm S. Forbes Jr. went under the gavel at Christie's, with 84 lots finding new homes. One of them was an unsmoked Havana cigar, which sold for £2,125. It soundly beat the auction's presale estimate of £1,500.

Included with the cigar was a note from the prime minister to Christopher Dunn, with whom he was dining: "Sir Winston Churchill... gave me this cigar at Luncheon – Hotel de Paris [Monte Carlo]" 12 April '63."

Forbes developed this collection over 30 years, and it sold for a total of £577,063 ... and it's only the first of three auctions from this private collection. The ultimate total is expected to exceed £1 million.