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Dunhill Estupendos |
Rich Londoners Spend $507k at High-End Cigar Auction
Wealthy cigar collectors ponied up £316,006 — that’s $507,750 — for rare
cigars., mostly Cubans, at a London auction on Nov. 26.
The top lot, 155 Cuban Partagas cigars in a custom-made humidor, sold for £8,800
— about $14,100. The winner will have to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to
retrieve the cigars from the climate-controlled vault at the headquarters of
Davidoff.
The biggest splurge, however, made that auction seem like child’s play: a
partial box of six — just six — Dunhill cigars made in the 1980s. For that rare
treat, someone paid £4,000. That’s more than $1,000 per smoke.
“I usually bid on at least 15 lots, and I’ve never lost a bid but the price was
stupid,” moaned Ashwan Chander, a Nottingham-based lace manufacturer and
property magnate who is reputed to have bought the most expensive cigar ever
sold at auction and reportedly owns one of Britain’s largest private cigar
collections.
On the bleak, cold Monday night in London, guests drank aged Balvenie single
malt and ate mini haggises on a cigar terrace at Boisdale, overlooked by the
glowering skyscrapers of Canary Wharf.
The restaurant, specializing in Scottish food and drink, first opened in
Belgravia in 1988. Its sister branch, which opened in 2002, is now a City
institution. It was one of the first establishments to provide a comfortable,
heated terrace for smokers in the wake of the UK smoking ban in 2007.
Over the course of two hours, we watched one man spend more than £136,000 on 104
lots of vintage, rare and mature cigars — including the giant Partagas treasure
chest. Occasionally, a man next to him leaned over and whispered instructions,
encouragement or both. Later we found out that this was the father of Formula
One racing star Lewis Hamilton.
As the mystery bidder left the auction room, I stopped him to offer
congratulations, and he launched into a stemwinder about his lucky
auction-paddle number, 129. It was something to do with the birthday of his
twins, April 1988 and the Year of the Dragon — but he cut himself off in
mid-sentence and rushed off when I told him I was writing about the auction for
a press outlet.
C.Gars Ltd. puts on the only independent cigar auctions in Britain, twice each
year. Founder and Havana cigar specialist Mitch Orchant dispensed cigars and
exuded optimism after the final gavel, clearly delighted by sale prices that
were higher than pre-auction estimates.
In contrast, four of Orchant’s Orthodox Jewish friends from North London
grumbled, angrily exhaling smoke. They were priced out of auction after auction
by the mystery bidder. “There wasn’t any point even starting,” said one.
A single bidder spending £136,000 on cigars is extravagant, even by London
standards. By comparison, £135,000 could buy a flat in East London, one of the
world’s most expensive capital cities. It could also purchase a 2012 Bentley
6000 cc Continental Supersports Convertible, or a Jean Schlumberger diamond
flower pendant in 18 karat gold and platinum from Tiffany.
Even the most expensive bottle of wine in the world, a limited edition
Australian ”ampoule” of Penfold’s Cabernet Sauvignon, sells for a mere £105,000.
Auctioneer Brian Ebbesen, formerly of Christie’s, said he couldn’t identify the
deep-pocketed bidder. “I’ve never seen him before,” he said. Ebbesen addedthat
he was accustomed to seeing the same old faces at cigar auctions.
Vintage cigars, he added, represented a niche market that can command huge sums
of money.
“There are about two to 300 people ’round the world who regularly buy them,” he
explained. “The market’s hard to grow, as cigars like this have not been
produced since 1989 when Cuba kicked out Davidoff and Dunhill and all the main
producers. The supply is literally drying up.”
“Producers are coming up with nice limited editions like the 2003 double coronas
or the 2001 pyramids, but sourcing good vintage cigars is increasingly hard, and
you need a good network.”
Some Americans tried their hand at bidding, notably four from California —
residents from Pebble Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Franciso, who
regularly travel together to go cigar hunting. But they said they were so
frustrated with the anonymous bidder that they bid less than usual this time
around.
Valeri Krasnopjorov from St. Petersburg, another regular at cigar auctions, only
bought three lots because of what he called “crazy” prices. He said he was
unimpressed by the private collection, bought mainly between 2001 and 2004 from
Christie’s.
Thirty-nine of the auction lots, it turned out, had been kept in Davidoff’s
vault, stored in a single connoisseur’s state-of-the-art humidor. “Only one or
two lots were really worth it,” Valeri said.
Rumors swirled that the unnamed connoisseur and his wife were divorcing, and
that it was the wife selling off his precious collection, including the £8,800
top Partagas prize. The soon-to-be divorcee, whoever she is, walked away with
£52,000, minus the auctioneer’s fee.
Not bad for two hours’ work.
- Dailycaller.com
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