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The bidding was fast and furious, according to Mitchell Orchant, the managing director of C. Gars Ltd. in London, and when his June 15 auction concluded, all but 15 of the 302 lots had been sold. The total amount raised from the combined online and live auction bids, held at The Bulgari Hotel, was more than $680,000.
"We noticed more new bidders from all the world, which may suggest that more people are looking at vintage cigars as an alternative investment," said Orchant. "Pre-embargo prices and values continue to increase substantially, and there was a lot more interest in limited editions that we have seen in the last few auctions."
"Overall, the auction had more bidders than we have ever seen before, both online and in the room, and the market for good quality vintage cigars seems to be stronger than ever," he said.
The event was the second major auction of 2015 held by C. Gars Ltd., a company that owns tobacco shops across the United Kingdom, including a new Casa del Habano in Chester.
A lot featuring pre-embargo Ramon Allones Coronas de Lujo, in a cabinet of 100 cigars, produced the most active bidding of the day. The hammer price was £20,500, or more than $32,000. Another highly sought-after lot was a box of original Dunhill Tubos from the early 1980s; that lot of 25 cigars sold for £7,110 or more than $11,100, about four times its pre-sale estimate. Orchant says that is close to a record in the Dunhill Tubos line.
If there was any category that might have drawn less interest than expected, according to Orchant, it was the vintage Cuban Davidoffs. Nonetheless, a box of Davidoff Chateau d'Yquem from the late 1970s met its estimate of £11,000 pounds, or approximately $17,215.
Other impressive lots included a box of diplomatic Cohiba Lanceros from the 1980s, which sold for £8,010, or $12,536; a cabinet of 100 pre-embargo Romeo y Julieta Coronations de Luxe sold for £10,500 (about $16,433); and a 50-count box of Hoyo de Monterrey Nacionales, pre-embargo Cubans that exceeded their £5,000 pound estimate to sell for £6,800 pounds, or $10,642.
The next C.Gars Ltd vintage cigar auction is slated to be held in December.
