This half cigar belonged to Sir Winston Churchill. He left it, stubbed and half smoked in a hashtray, in Downing Street, the 21st August 1941, urging to head the Cabinet as Germans Troops had reached Leningrad.
Of course we were all lucky he didn't keep quietly smoking that cigar.
But the point is another one, as that half cigar has been sold by £4,500 in a public sale.
Who has the right to get that money?
If I were a Winnie's heir I would claim that money. Just to give it back to the bidder has won the sale and get back that half cigar which, may be, has saved the world from the nazis!
Read more on the Mail On Line
Half-smoked cigar that Churchill stubbed out as he heard the Nazi army had reached Leningrad is sold for £4,500
Cigar fan: Sir Winston Churchill
A cigar half-smoked and stubbed out by Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War has sold for 15 times the expected price at auction.
The four-inch stub was predicted to fetch £300 to £350 but an anonymous collector from Hertfordshire paid £4,500 for it at a sale in Aylsham, Norfolk.
The cigar was left by Churchill as he dashed off for a Cabinet meeting on August 22, 1941 – the day the Germans reached Leningrad in Russia.
Whitehall valet Nellie Goble took the cigar from an ashtray when she was cleaning up. She sent it as a gift to a friend, named only as Jack, with a note she wrote on No10 notepaper.
It read: ‘Just a small souvenir to remind you at some future date of one of the greatest men that ever lived in England.’
Jack kept the cigar and note until his death in 1987. His daughter tucked it in a draw until deciding to sell.
Would-be buyers included telephone bidders from Egypt and Israel.
Auctioneers Keys, of Aylsham, Norfolk, said Sir Winston abandoned the stub to attend a cabinet meeting.
Andrew Bullock of auctioneers Keys said: ‘It was extremely rare for Churchill not to finish a cigar so it must have been something very, very urgent that demanded his immediate attention in the Cabinet Room.’
Keys said the stub - nearly four inches long - was bought by a private collector at a sale in Aylsham.
The cigar was stubbed out on the day the advancing German army reached Leningrad, leading to a historic siegeRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247262/Half-smoked-cigar-Churchill-stubbed-heard-Nazi-army-reached-Leningrad-sold-4-500.html#ixzz0eBHpRQvF
Cigar fan: Sir Winston Churchill
A cigar half-smoked and stubbed out by Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War has sold for 15 times the expected price at auction.
The four-inch stub was predicted to fetch £300 to £350 but an anonymous collector from Hertfordshire paid £4,500 for it at a sale in Aylsham, Norfolk.
The cigar was left by Churchill as he dashed off for a Cabinet meeting on August 22, 1941 – the day the Germans reached Leningrad in Russia.
Whitehall valet Nellie Goble took the cigar from an ashtray when she was cleaning up. She sent it as a gift to a friend, named only as Jack, with a note she wrote on No10 notepaper.
It read: ‘Just a small souvenir to remind you at some future date of one of the greatest men that ever lived in England.’
Jack kept the cigar and note until his death in 1987. His daughter tucked it in a draw until deciding to sell.
Would-be buyers included telephone bidders from Egypt and Israel.
Auctioneers Keys, of Aylsham, Norfolk, said Sir Winston abandoned the stub to attend a cabinet meeting.
Andrew Bullock of auctioneers Keys said: ‘It was extremely rare for Churchill not to finish a cigar so it must have been something very, very urgent that demanded his immediate attention in the Cabinet Room.’
Keys said the stub - nearly four inches long - was bought by a private collector at a sale in Aylsham.
The cigar was stubbed out on the day the advancing German army reached Leningrad, leading to a historic siegeRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247262/Half-smoked-cigar-Churchill-stubbed-heard-Nazi-army-reached-Leningrad-sold-4-500.html#ixzz0eBHpRQvF