Winston Churchill's cigar butt sells for £4,000 at auction

The previous owner's grandfather, Arthur Church, was the policeman who picked up the butt

A cigar butt discarded by Sir Winston Churchill and picked up by a policeman has sold for more than £4,200.

The item - cast aside by the wartime leader in the 1940s - went under the hammer on Wednesday.

The 7cm-long butt caused a stir at the West Sussex auction as it was only expected to sell for £800.

The previous owner's grandfather, Arthur Church, was a policeman in the 1940s and had been escorting Churchill when he picked up the butt.

Winston Churchill gives his familiar and famous V for Victory sign after a lunchtime meeting, at 10 Downing Street in 1954

It was sold by Bellmans auctioneers, based in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, for a £3,500 hammer price, rising to £4,270 with buyer's premium.

It is not the first time an item from Churchill has fetched a high price. In March a pair of his luxury velvet slippers sold for nearly £40,000, and a cigar box for almost £80,000.

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