several days ago I have posted a message in this forum ("Cuba and Cuban Cigars" ---> "New here... Need all and any help") in response to which several forum members advised me to contact you and ask you for your expert opinion.
Please find below a copy of my original posting. I would really greatly appreciate your opinion for which I sincerely thank you already now!
quote: ... ..... ........
From my late grandfather I inherited (among other things) two items which, I think, might be valuable and which I intend to sell.
Item # 1 is a still sealed box of 25 "Romeo y Julieta" Panetelas which my grandfather bought either in 1979 or probably in 1980 (but not later), so they are either 24 or 25 years old and properly aged in my grandfather's humidor - which I also inherited - and where they are being kept until this day.
... ..... .......
A note ten days after the initial post: Please disregard the puzzle with the stamp - I already know more about those letters and digits than I ever wanted to :-)
Item # 2 might be even more interesting and valuable.
A very close friend of our family (himself long since dead) was in the 60's a foreign correspondent for the (then) Soviet newspaper "Izvestija". In 1964 his newspaper sent him to Cuba for an interview with Fidel Castro. (Next follows the story as told by this late gentleman at our family gathering when he was visiting with us in 1964 on his way back from Cuba to Moscow).
Both the interviewer and the interviewed obviously liked each other, so that at the end of that interview Fidel - in a gesture of affection - took a half full pack of his own cigars from his desk and gave it to the correspondent as a gift (who was a non-smoker but he nonetheless gratefully accepted the gift). Fidel's affection towards our family's friend went, however, even further - after the interview he took the correspondent for a casual ride on a biplane which he (Fidel) himself was flying. Sitting on the passenger seat in the cabin of the biplane alone and shoulder to shoulder with Fidel, gave our friend an unique opportunity to take some pictures of Fidel Castro at a very close range. For political or security reasons (or both) all his films had to be developed before he left Cuba, so that when our family friend was visiting with us on his way from Cuba to Moscow, he already had printed photos with him which he was showing to us at that family gathering. One of the photos, he said, would never have a chance to be published anyway (end of our friend's story), so he gave it to me (while Fidel's cigars went to my grandfather).
This unpublishable photo, taken during the flight on the biplane, is a close-up of Fidel's torso and face - broadly smiling (his beard being still rather thin). What made this photo unpublishable was that on it one sees a huge tooth gap in Castro's upper jaw - yes, a big tooth was missing there and it was showing.
Now... I still have both this photo and those Fidel's own cigars (the latter still being stored in my grandfather's humidor along with the box of the a. m. "Romeo y Julieta"). The reason I still know and very well remember that it all took place in 1964 is that
a) it was a memorable day for me (it doesn't happen all days that one receives a gift of an absolutely unique and first-hand photo of a world leader), and
b) I made an entry in my diary on that day relating the above story and also mentioning that photo).
You can view the pictures of Fidel's cigars and of that photo here - http://vienna-doctor.com/cigars/Flor_de_lis/Flor_de_lis_map.html (with the Internet being as open to all eyes as it is, I have deliberately somewhat obscured the intriguing part of Fidel's photo on its corresponding picture).
My question to this item:
1) What might these cigars be worth now (bundled or not bundled with the photo)?
I would sincerely appreciate all and any help concerning my questions!
Many thanks,
Valery
Yes, many thanks in advance indeed!
Valery
Posts: 11 | Location: Austria | Registered: October 25, 2004
Old Cuban cigars, if kept in proper condition, can be worth hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars a box. You should contact Christie's in London if you're serious about getting an accuate pre-auction estimate.
Posts: 2225 | Location: New York, NY | Registered: April 23, 2002
quote:Originally posted by David Savona: You should contact Christie's in London if you're serious about getting an accuate pre-auction estimate.
Yes, I have already sent an e-mail to their vintage cigars specialist (a Mr. Brian Ebbesen) several days ago but have received no reply from him yet...
Many thanks again!
Valery
Posts: 11 | Location: Austria | Registered: October 25, 2004
