A CIGAR smoked by Winston Churchill was sold for over £2,000 along with around 130 other objects at the first auction to be held at Braintree and Bocking Arts Theatre for 40 years.
The boxed cigar butt smoked by the former prime minister on his visit to North Africa in the Second World War was snapped up at the inaugural auction event at 6.30pm last Wednesday, June 4.
"It was a really good turnout and we're so pleased at how successful it was," said Martin Crossman, 43, director of Bocking Arts Theatre Antique Auctions.
"A lot of people came to view items to see if they were going to get anything in the auction for next time.
"A lot of the items were sold so it was really pleasing to get such a good reaction from the public."
The venue has not held an auction since the 1970s but it opened its doors to the public for an evening sale that included a collection of Art Deco table lamps, a 1930s silver and gold gilt Tiffany & Co vase, as well as a rare collection of Victorian wooden tables and garden games.
These games included a Victorian Gofky lawn game, similar to croquet, plus a collection of rare early Edwardian postcards of Braintree and the surrounding villages.
A set of old Braintree police files were sold for nearly £200 as 130 of the 200 items under the hammer were bought by eager auction-goers.
It was also the first auction in the country to sell abandoned storage units, where bidders purchased goods left at units in Freeport, without knowing what was inside.
Both the units at U Store Solutions in the town sold for over £100 each, while some local viewfinders were purchased by two bidders for around £200 a piece.
Also attending was Will Axon, star of the BBC's Antique Road Trip, Flog It! and Your Money, who acted as auctioneer. Organisers hope he will return for the next sale on July 9.
Mr Crossman, who first worked in the antique business in a Battlesbridge shop in 1991, said: "Alan Goldsmith of Stansted Mountfitchet Toy Museum is a trustee at the Bocking auction and he knows Will and has done filming at Stansted Mountfitchet Castle with his son Jeremy.
"We're really looking forward to the next auction, hopefully it will be even bigger and better. We're hoping to get two original old muskets in, so it should be another good turnout."
The next auction will be at 6.30pm on July 9 and people will be able to view items from 10am in the Bocking Arts Theatre.
