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Winston Churchill's personally-owned aluminum cigar tube, measuring 7˝ long, marked: "Santa Maria, Havana, Erik Stokkebye, Odense, Supplier to The Right Honorable Winston S. Churchill." Toward the bottom is a dedication: "Dedicated to The Right Honorable Winston Churchill, Doctor philosophiae honoris causa, The University of Copenhagen, Oct. the 11th 1950." In very good to fine condition, with light overall wear.
Accompanied by a letter of provenance signed by Victoria Sheppard, in full: "I can confirm that Winston Churchill's cigar case was inherited from my grandparents Johanna and Ivan Sheppard, who were gifted it by Winston Churchilll. They had travelled around the world with him as nurses from 1956-1961. They resided at the Chartwell Estate and visited iconic locations with the Churchills, including La Mamounia, La Pausa, Christina yacht, and la Capponcina."
On October 10, 1950, Churchill attended a ceremony in Denmark to accept an honorary doctorate from University of Copenhagen, where he was introduced as the 'architect of victory' in World War II. The speech he gave spoke volumes about his appreciation of the mission of the university, memorably declaring: 'The first duty of a university is to teach wisdom, not a trade; character, not technicalities. We want a lot of engineers in the modern world, but we do not want a world of engineers.' It seems that Erik Stokkebye, the official supplier of Churchill's cigars and a native of Denmark, prepared special Cuban cigars to present to Churchill in honor of the occasion.
