Winston Churchill's cigar box sells for £79,000 at auction

The box was found on a shelf during a routine valuation by auctioneers at a house in Devon

A cigar box that belonged to Sir Winston Churchill has sold for £79,000 at auction.

The rosewood box, engraved with his name, has two personalised cigars inside, an amber and gold cigar holder and a personalised penknife.

Duke's Auctioneers in Dorset had put an estimate of £5,000-£7,000.

The hammer came down on the "incredible find" at £61,000 with the total cost rising to £79,000 after VAT and fees were added.

The Montecristo humidor box, found on a shelf during a routine valuation at a house in Devon, had later belonged to Churchill's personal valet, Norman McGowan.

Auctioneer Guy Schwinge said: "Churchill is rarely depicted without a cigar in hand, and the fact that he gave it to his personal valet gives it even greater resonance."

The cigar box had been expected to fetch between £5,000-£7,000

The mother-of-pearl penknife inscribed with "Winston L S Churchill" is thought to have been used by Britain's wartime leader to trim the end of his cigars.

In a separate lot, 14 black and white photographs of Churchill's state funeral, dated 30 January 1965, with typed inscriptions to the back were also sold.

In 2019, a cigar dropped by him at the London Coliseum in 1953 and then picked up and kept by an usherette sold for £4,800.

Earlier this week, a pair of Churchill's velvet slippers sold for nearly £40,000 at auction in Sussex.