A set of false teeth worn by Winston Churchill during his “We shall fight on the beaches” speech are to be sold at auction next month.
The gold-mounted dentures are expected to fetch between £5,000 and £8,000 when they go under the hammer in Cheltenham on 6 February.
Liz Poole, the director of The Cotswold Auction Company, said: “Churchill’s false teeth must be among the most unusual items we have ever sold.”
It is thought the teeth could fetch significantly more than the guide price – in 2010, the teeth fetched £15,200 at an auction in Norfolk.
The late prime minister had his dentures specially made to help overcome a lisp he developed in childhood, and he carried a spare pair at all times. It is believed up to four sets of teeth were made for him, with at least one buried with him.
They were designed for Churchill by his dentist, Sir Wilfred Fish, and made by the technician Derek Cudlipp, who also kept a spare for emergencies.
This spare was donated to the Royal College of Surgeons museum in London, which said “a well-fitting denture was a crucial physical and psychological prop” for Churchill.
“It allowed him to speak effectively – a vital attribute for any politician, and especially for one whose speaking skills were so central to his success,” it said. “Throughout his adult life Churchill was haunted by the fear of losing his ability to speak.”
Along with the dentures, the microphone used by Churchill to announce the end of the second world war is also up for sale, with an estimated price tag of between £5,000 and £8,000.
The Battle of Britain Book of Heroes from the conflict, which has signatures of more than 100 Royal Air Force pilots, is expected to sell for between £10,000 and £20,000.
Churchill’s dentures are among the stranger items to be sold at auction but they are not the only oddity to fetch a large sum under the hammer.
John Lennon’s toilet
In 2010, a porcelain lavatory used by Lennon sold for £9,500 at auction – nearly 10 times its guide price. The loo was used by the singer when he lived at Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire from 1969-72, and given to builder John Hancock to “use as a plant pot” when the Beatles star installed a new one. The toilet was stored in Hancock’s shed for 40 years until he died and the loo was unearthed, fetching a small fortune.
Charles and Diana’s wedding cake icing
The icing from a slice of the pair’s wedding cake, featuring a sugared design of the royal coat of arms, sold for £1,850 at auction in 2021, more than 40 years after they were married. It was given to Moya Smith, a member of the queen mother’s staff, who preserved it with clingfilm and dated it 29 July 1981.
Elvis Presley’s Bible
A Bible used by Elvis Presley sold at auction for £59,000 in 2012. It was given to the singer on his first Christmas in Graceland in 1957 and was expected to fetch about £25,000 but went for more than double its value. However, Presley’s unwashed and soiled underpants, worn underneath his white jumpsuit during a 1977 concert performance, went unsold after failing to reach the £7,000 reserve price.
JK Rowling’s chair
An oak chair that JK Rowling used while writing the first two books of the Harry Potter series has sold for £278,000 in 2016. It was one of four mismatched chairs given free to Rowling to use in her Edinburgh council flat, and she wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets while sitting on it.
