News-Info-Alerts

Re: Churchill POW Escape Revolver & Flask Go to Auction

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: November 19, 2002

"Half-Smoked Churchill Cigar Tops Auction Oddities
By: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A half-smoked cigar belonging to Winston Churchill is one of the quirkier items at an auction next month of memorabilia of the man who led Britain through its "darkest hour" in World War II.

The butt of the cigar -- a trademark of the soldier, writer and politician who led the wartime coalition government from 1940 to 1945 -- is expected to fetch up to $1,100 at the sale on December 12, auction house Sotheby's said.

Such was Churchill's taste for giant Cuban cigars, of which he consumed up to 10 a day, that he eventually had a class of cigar named after him.

The chewed and half-smoked remnant being sold next month will be alongside the pinstriped boiler suit that Churchill often wore during the war and which is expected to fetch up to $55,000.

But the centerpiece of the sale will be a revolver and hip flask Churchill had with him for "moral support" during his epic escape from a Boer prisoner-of-war camp in 1899 having been sent to South Africa to cover the war for the Morning Post newspaper.

The gun and the flask were given to the young Churchill by local mine owner John Howard who hid him for several days after his escape while the hue and cry died down and before sending him on his way to refuge in what is now Mozambique.

The pistol and hip flask will be sold together and are expected to fetch up to $235,000.

Also in the same auction are a series of letters and first editions of his books which are expected to fetch up to $315,000."