Dunhill Tubos Impress as C.Gars Ltd Auctions $680,000 of Cigars

While it was far from the highest-priced lot of the evening, Lot 259 was arguably the star of the show at C.Gars Ltd’s summer action held last night at London’s Bulgari Hotel.

The auction book estimated that the 25-count box of Dunhill Tubos from the 1980s would sell between £2,000-2,500 ($3,130-3,910), it end up going for roughly triple the action estimate: £7,110 ($11,120).

“The Dunhill Tubos Lot was quite pristine and in fact received over 70 online bids before the auction even started,” said Mitchell Orchant, managing director for C.Gars Ltd. “I believe that is a new world record price for these wonderful and now very rare cigars.”

New record set for Dunhill Tubos pic.twitter.com/FEeHnPuCVA

— Mitchell Orchant (@Cgarsltd) June 15, 2015

In total, 287 of the 302 were sold for sales totaling roughly £435,000 ($680,000).

As expected, the Ramón Allones Coronas de Lujo, a pre-embargo cabinet of 100, was the big draw, selling well past its estimate at £20,500 ($32,000).

A Padron 50th Anniversary humidor of the Maduro variety sold for a little over $3,500—over $1,500 less than retail.

Still, there was plenty that sold well beyond their estimates. Lot 32, a box of Cohiba Lanceros with diplomatic bands sold for roughly double the estimate at £8,010 ($12,500) and Lot 264, a chest of Partagás 155th anniversary cigars signed by the late Alejandro Robaina sold for £9,010 ($14,000).

Both sellers and buyers pay a 15 percent fee to C.Gars Ltd., the British retailer who has hosted the semi-annual actions since 2009.

Orchant indicated that the company was looking at early December for its winter auction.