Sir Winston Churchill's Dentures Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 30th 2010 at 1:01AM

We've seen Winston Churchill's cigars (some of them half-smoked) sell for thousands of dollars so we have to wonder how much this latest item will bring. Paul Fraser Collectibles is selling a collection of Churchill memorabilia that includes a set of gold-plated dentures worn by Sir Winston Churchill. The dentures come with a copy of a photograph of Sir Winston Churchill being escorted to his car by Wallace Stewart Ross, his last dentist and there is a note from Churchill's private secretary addressed to Mr Stewart Ross: "Lady Churchill has asked me to send you this photograph which Sir Winston has signed for you."

There are four known sets of Churchill gold dentures. One set was buried with Churchill, a second set is held by the Royal College of Surgeons in London. The third set of dentures recently sold at auction for £17,480, however that set was a spare set that had never been worn by Sir Winston. The fourth set being sold here were worn by Sir Winston until a clasp broke and they were returned to the dental office. Paul Fraser Collectibles reports that the upper dentures were deliberately designed to be loose-fitting so that Churchill could keep the recognizable lisp that people were accustomed to hearing during his radio broadcast. Paul Fraser Collectibles is accepting offers around the £40,000 mark.

Tags: sir winston churchill, Winston Churchill