Churchill's Popularity Never Fades.
It is just as well, all things considered, that David Cameron promptly gave up smoking as soon as he was elected the new, squeaky-clean Tory leader.
What with a 9p inflation-matching rise on a packet of 20 cigarettes in the Budget and the forthcoming legislation to make smoking in public places illegal, lighting up is clearly not the done thing in political circles nowadays.
It was ever thus. Next month, a half-smoked cigar discarded by Sir Winston Churchill is coming up for auction at Outhwaite and Litherland in Liverpool.
According to the auctioneers, Churchill was told that he could not smoke it at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, so stubbed it out and handed the butt to a special constable.
It might not sound like the most appealing item of historical memorabilia (although the prospect of preserving a strand of Churchillian DNA might appeal to cryogenicists) but the auctioneers have given it a "deliberately low" estimate of between £100 and £200.
Churchill memorabilia is a collector's paradise. Seemingly insignificant items, such as a letter apologising for not making a supper appointment and signed 'W' (offered by the American company History for Sale), can fetch £4,000. A pair of his monogrammed blue velvet slippers reached £6,325 at auction eight years ago.
Interest has remained strong, especially from America where Churchill items hold a special attraction. Auction houses have seen a doubling in value for Churchilliana in the past decade: in 1998, Sotheby's sold one of his side arms for more than £17,000.
A mere four years later, another of his revolvers came up for sale and fetched a staggering £32,000.
A complete set of Churchill books could, at a pinch, be bought for about £1,000 in 1990. Now, you would be hard pushed to see change from £3,000 - and that's not even for first editions.
On eBay last week a rare four-volume, first edition set of The Selected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill dating from 1976 attracted 16 bids and went for £746 - to an American purchaser.
The normal precautions apply: mint condition copies are far more valuable than dog-eared examples. It is also worth avoiding copies that have been leatherbound by the owner - books in their original state are always far more attractive to collectors.
The most valuable Churchill books are first editions of the vanity-published Brodrick's Army and For Free Trade: a 1899 copy of Brodrick was sold for £50,000.
And then there are the paintings. In 1998, Lord Harris of Peckham paid a record £150,000 at Christie's for Churchill's Mimizan, Landes - a view of the Duke of Westminster's house in the South of France. It had been bought in 1965 by an American collector for £9,500.
As for that cigar butt, we'll just have to wait and see: never will they have bid so much for so little.
FOR THE FULL AND UP TO DATE LIST OF USA AUCTIONS VISIT THE FREE NEWSLETTER AT: http://www.usa-government-auctions.com/template.html
What with a 9p inflation-matching rise on a packet of 20 cigarettes in the Budget and the forthcoming legislation to make smoking in public places illegal, lighting up is clearly not the done thing in political circles nowadays.
It was ever thus. Next month, a half-smoked cigar discarded by Sir Winston Churchill is coming up for auction at Outhwaite and Litherland in Liverpool.
According to the auctioneers, Churchill was told that he could not smoke it at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, so stubbed it out and handed the butt to a special constable.
It might not sound like the most appealing item of historical memorabilia (although the prospect of preserving a strand of Churchillian DNA might appeal to cryogenicists) but the auctioneers have given it a "deliberately low" estimate of between £100 and £200.
Churchill memorabilia is a collector's paradise. Seemingly insignificant items, such as a letter apologising for not making a supper appointment and signed 'W' (offered by the American company History for Sale), can fetch £4,000. A pair of his monogrammed blue velvet slippers reached £6,325 at auction eight years ago.
Interest has remained strong, especially from America where Churchill items hold a special attraction. Auction houses have seen a doubling in value for Churchilliana in the past decade: in 1998, Sotheby's sold one of his side arms for more than £17,000.
A mere four years later, another of his revolvers came up for sale and fetched a staggering £32,000.
A complete set of Churchill books could, at a pinch, be bought for about £1,000 in 1990. Now, you would be hard pushed to see change from £3,000 - and that's not even for first editions.
On eBay last week a rare four-volume, first edition set of The Selected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill dating from 1976 attracted 16 bids and went for £746 - to an American purchaser.
The normal precautions apply: mint condition copies are far more valuable than dog-eared examples. It is also worth avoiding copies that have been leatherbound by the owner - books in their original state are always far more attractive to collectors.
The most valuable Churchill books are first editions of the vanity-published Brodrick's Army and For Free Trade: a 1899 copy of Brodrick was sold for £50,000.
And then there are the paintings. In 1998, Lord Harris of Peckham paid a record £150,000 at Christie's for Churchill's Mimizan, Landes - a view of the Duke of Westminster's house in the South of France. It had been bought in 1965 by an American collector for £9,500.
As for that cigar butt, we'll just have to wait and see: never will they have bid so much for so little.
FOR THE FULL AND UP TO DATE LIST OF USA AUCTIONS VISIT THE FREE NEWSLETTER AT: http://www.usa-government-auctions.com/template.html
posted by Internet Unlimited LLC @ 4:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home