 Annual Christie’s auction had one sale for $451 per cigar!
Los Angeles, November 23 – Collectors of true vintage cigars know that one place they will find what they are looking for is at Christie’s in London, in their annual vintage cigars auction.
Held on November 15, this year’s edition had some stupendous items, including one that sold for $16,400 and another in which the sale price worked out to $451.00 per cigar!
We list here the boxes or items that sold for U.S. $1,000 or more only (converted from British Pounds); all of these items are Cuban unless otherwise noted:
• $1,025: Cohiba Panatelas (4 1/2 x 26), in a box of 25 from the late 1980s; an amazing price for such small cigars.
• $1,025: Cohiba Edicion Limitada Double Coronas (7 5/8 x 49), in a box of 25 from 2003.
• $1,025: H. Upmann Monarchs (7 x 47 in aluminum tubes), in a box of 25 from the 1970s.
• $1,025: Romeo y Julieta Churchills (7 x 47 in aluminum tubes), in a box of 25 from the 1989.
• $1,128: Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas (7 5/8 x 49), in a damaged box of 21 cigars from the early 1970s.
• $1,230: Montecristo Millennium Reserve Robustos (4 7/8 x 50) in a ceramic jar of 25 from 2000.
• $1,640: Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2 (4 7/8 x 50), in a cabinet of 50 from 1994.
• $1,845: Por Larranaga Lonsdales (6 1/2 x 42), in a box of 25 with each cigar wrapped in cellophane (!) from the 1970s.
• $1,845: Por Larranaga Fancy Tales “A” (6 3/4 x 42), in a box of 25 (also cellophaned) from the 1970s.
• $1,845: Ramon Allones Coronas Extra (5 1/4 x 42 in aluminum tubes), pre-embargo, in a box of 25.
• $1,948: Romeo y Julieta Clemenceaus (7 x 42), in a box of 25 from the 1970s, with one damaged cigar.
• $1,948: Trinidad Farm House Humidor with 10 Fundadores (7 1/2 x 40) and 10 Double Robustos (7 1/2 x 50), from 2001. There were two of these on sale; each sold for the same price of £1,300.
• $2,050: Por Larranaga Dunhill Selection No. 33 (5 1/2 x 42), in a box of 25 from the 1970s. There were seven of these boxes up for auction and each sold for the same price.
• $2,255: Partagas Humidor from the 1990s with four different sizes of cigars (96 total) from the 1970s.
• $2,665: Cohiba Lanceros (7 1/2 x 38), in a box of 25 (with cellophane), reportedly perfect condition from 1986 or 1987. There were two boxes available and both sold for the same price of £1,300 each.
• $2,870: Partagas Habanos Collection book-style humidor of 20 Serie C No. 1 (6 5/8 x 49) from 2002.
• $3,075: Por Larranaga Dunhill Selection No. 33 (5 1/2 x 42), in a box of 50 from the Alfred Dunhill humidor, believed to be from the 1970s. There were two of these boxes up for auction and each sold for the same price.
• $3,690: Cohiba 40th Anniversary Humidor with 25 Siglo VI (5 7/8 x 52), of recent production.
• $4,100: La Corona Invencibles No. 2 (5 1/2 x 42), pre-embargo and probably from the 1950s, in a glass jar of 50.
• $4,100: Bolivar Centenary Humidor, with 50 Belicosos Finos (5 1/2 x 52) and 50 Royal Coronas (4 7/8 x 50) from 2002.
• $7,175: Romeo y Julieta Casa Reales (7 x 47), in a cabinet of 50 from the J.J. Fox store from the 1970s.
• $11,275: La Flor de Cano Short Churchills (4 7/8 x 50) in a cabinet of 25 from the 1980s, a stunning $451.00 per cigar!
• $16,400: Hoyo de Monterrey Diademas Humidor (9 1/2 x 55) in a humidor of 96 from the 1980s; that’s a hefty $170.80 per cigar.
A special Che Guevara humidor made by Elie Bleu in France and including 68 cigars sold for $8,200 and a Philippine Centennial humidor from 1998 with 50 cigars included drew a final price of $4,920.
And there were some interesting Davidoff lots:
• $246: Davidoff No. 1 (7 1/2 x 38), in a partial box of six from the 1980s ($41.00 each).
• $328: Davidoff No. 2 (6 x 38), in a pack of five from the 1980s ($65.60 each).
• $410: Davidoff No. 2 (6 x 38), in two packs of four from the 1980s ($51.25 each).
• $779: Davidoff No. 2 (6 x 38) in a box of 15 from 1989 ($51.93 each).
• $923: Davidoff No. 2 (6 x 38) in a box of 10 from the 1980s ($92.30 each).
• $1,025: Davidoff No. 2 (6 x 38 in aluminum tubes) in cases of 12 from the 1980s ($85.42 each).
The $451 per-cigar price for the La Flor de Cano Short Churchills is the most amazing outcome of the auction. All of these prices had added to them a 10 percent buyer’s premium and value-added taxes of 17.5 percent.
What’s the moral of this story? Don’t throw away that partial box of Fuente Fuente Opus X or Padron Aniversarios! Better yet, don’t even smoke ‘em!
Seeing these prices almost makes some of today’s higher-priced cigars seem reasonable. Almost.
~ Rich Perelman
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