 |
|
Dunhill Estupendos |
Cigars Sell for More Than $1,000 Each at Auction
Would you pay more than $1,000 for a cigar? An anonymous bidder did recently
at a London auction of aged cigars, nearly all of them Cuban. The auction, held
at Boisdales for London retailer C.Gars Ltd., raised more than $600,000,
including auction premiums.
The star cigar was a mostly empty box of Cuban Dunhill Estupendos,
Churchill-sized smokes packed in white tubes. Six of the Dunhills, which were
rolled in the 1980s, sold for £4,000 ($6,462), or £667 per cigar, worth $1,077
at today’s exchange rates.
A 1983 version of the very same cigar was rated 100 points by Gordon Mott in the
December 2012 Cigar Aficionado, in the Connoisseur’s Corner section.
Dunhills commanded the highest prices per cigar, far higher than even Cuban
Davidoffs. Most of the lots were sold, with only six of the 301 lots failing to
sell.
“Our Winter 2012 Vintage Cigar Auction saw a huge increase in absentee bidders
from the Far East where the thirst for Limited-Edition Cohiba, in particular,
continues at a faster pace than ever,” said Mitchell Orchant, owner of C.Gars
Ltd. Brian Ebbesen, formerly of Christie’s, served as auctioneer.
The prize for the most valuable lot went to a Partagás 155th Aniversario
Humidor, a celebratory piece made in 2000 to honor the 155th anniversary of the
Partagás cigar brand. The large humidor features a bottom compartment with four
drawers that swing away from the humidor’s body. Inside the humidor are four
types of specially banded Partagás cigars, including the Salomones size, with
155 cigars in all. It sold for £8,800 ($14,200), for a value of £56 ($90) per
cigar.
There were a number of Cuban Davidoffs on the block. The most abundant were
Davidoff 3000s, slim gran panatelas measuring 7 inches long by 33 ring gauge.
Four of the boxes were full, and one contained only nine cigars. They sold for
an average of £33 ($53) per cigar. The bigger, thicker and eminently more
collectible Davidoff No. 1s sold for £71.80 ($116) per cigar. The highest price
went to an open box containing six cigars from the 1970s, which sold for £520
($840), or £86.76 ($140) per cigar. Two boxes of Davidoff No. 2s, measuring 6 by
38, sold for an average of £70 ($113) per cigar.
The champion Davidoff was the very rare, very large Davidoff 80 Aniversario,
created for the 80th birthday of Davidoff brand founder Zino Davidoff. A single
cigar, measuring 8 5/8 by 48 ring, fetched £400 ($646).
But as much as the Davidoffs raised, Dunhills drew even more interest. “Dunhills
have always been more desirable than Davidoff and the interest in good quality
vintage Dunhill with provenance increases year on year,” said Orchant.
A partially filled box containing 15 Dunhill Cabinettas, robusto-sized smokes
that are among the most collectible cigars in the world, sold for £4,000
($6,462), or £266 ($429) per cigar. Two boxes, each containing 10 Estupendos,
sold for £5,100 ($8,200) per box, or £510 ($820) per cigar.
- Cigar Aficionado
Return to the Publicity Page
|
