A cigar stump discarded by Winston Churchill has been sold at an auction for 4,500 pounds (7,192 dollars), reports said Saturday. The former British Prime Minister hastily stubbed out the cigar in 1941 when he had to rush to a cabinet meeting, the auction house Keys said.

The 10-centimetre stump was saved by a servant at 10 Downing Street and later given to a friend as a gift. A relative took possession of it after the man died. The cigar fetched 10 times more than expected. Churchill, a passionate cigar smoker, served two terms as prime minister between 1940 and 1955.

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2010