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Winston Churchill

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Winston Churchill

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Auction Date:2018 Jan 10 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Incredible ‘La Aroma de Cuba’ cigar personally gifted by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Welsh Liberal Party politician Roderic Bowen during a luncheon party at 10 Downing Street on December 21, 1954. The cigar approximately measures 6.5? in length and remains sealed in its original cellophane wrapper. Includes Churchill’s original royal blue cigar case, 6.5 x 3.5, with front embossed in gilt: “By Appointment, Cigar Merchants to H.M. the King, T.B. Carlin Ltd., 13, Park Place, St. James’s, London, S.W.1., Established 1925, Regent 1544.” In fine, untouched condition; the case bears slight rubbing from use. Accompanied by a letter of provenance from the original recipient, in full: “I confirm that this cigar is one given to me personally, by Sir Winston Churchill at a private luncheon-party at 10 Downing Street, at which I was his guest on 21st. December 1954. A copy of the menu is attached.”

Also accompanied by the referenced copy of the menu, as well as information and receipts from the cigar’s initial sale at Sotheby’s in July 1999, which includes an e-mail addressed to the original buyer by a Sotheby’s representative, dated August 19, 2002, reading, in part: “As you are aware we have retained the above property in the Book Department since it was purchased…on 14th July 1999. I have been liaising with our Shipping Department to return the item to you as agreed during our last telephone conversation. However, I have been advised by our Shipping Department today that we will be unable to arrange for [the cigar] to be delivered to you in the United States as there is currently an embargo against all goods of Cuban origin entering the USA. Were we to attempt to ship the cigars to you, they would be seized at Customs and destroyed.” Because of the long-standing embargo between Cuba and the United States, Sotheby’s placed the cigar within its inventory for 17 years; the cigar was only recently able to be shipped to America when, on October 14, 2016, the Obama administration announced a new round of executive actions designed to increase trade and travel with Cuba, namely curtailing restrictions on the island's famed rum and cigars. The Cuban cigar was an integral component of Churchill's public image, making this personally gifted example a truly delightful relic of history, which is only further complemented by its steadfast provenance and intimate connection to recent American-Cuban relations. Provenance: Sotheby's, July 1999.