Half-smoked Winston Churchill cigar sold for $12,000

Image source, RR Auction

Image caption, The cigar was accompanied by an autographed photo of the World War Two-era leader

A cigar once smoked by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has sold for $12,000 (拢9,000), according to the Boston-based RR Auction house.

Churchill partially smoked the 4in (10cm) cigar at the Le Bourget Airport in Paris on 11 May 1947.

It was sold on Wednesday night to a collector in Palm Beach, Florida. The buyer's name was not released.

The half-smoked cigar was kept by a British airman who flew Churchill and his wife to and from Paris.

Cpl William Alan Turner saved the Cuban cigar, which features a red-and-gold La Corona label alongside the wartime leader's full name.

It also featured a photo taken by the Air Quartermaster with an annotation written in pencil that read: "A photograph I took from the doorway of York MW101 at Le Bourget airport, Paris, on 11th May 1947 just before we flew black to Northolt".

Image source, RR Auction

Image caption, The Cuban cigar features Churchill's name

"[Churchill] is surrounded by French ex-servicemen with whom he had been chatting. He stubbed out his cigar in an ashtray when he came aboard, and I took the remains into protective custody."

During the trip Churchill visited the historic Les Invalides, where he was awarded France's highest military honour, the Medaille Militaire.

Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, called the item "a synonymous piece from Churchill's trademark look".

In 2015, a chewed up Churchill cigar butt was sold for 拢2,000 at a British auction house.