A CUBAN cigar once owned by Sir Winston Churchill has fetched a high price at an auction thanks to a shop owner in Holsworthy.

When Eric Partridge received a visit from a lady who wishes to remain anonymous, the last thing he expected was for her to produce a cigar once owned by the famous politician.

She took the item along to the eBay shop Stonehenge Ephemera and Collectables in Holsworthy to see if Eric could sell it.

He launched the business in October to sell items which people no longer needed, using both his retail shop in The Square and on eBay as dual selling platforms.

After much consideration, Eric decided the item was too unique to be sold on eBay and feared it would get lost amongst the many items on sale from the era.

He explained: "Initially, I thought that something so unique as this, and with irrefutable provenance, would attract huge interest on eBay but after seeing that there were literally hundreds of more modern cigars all purporting to be 'Churchill' cigars listed, I felt that no matter how well I marketed the cigar on eBay, or how unique it appeared to be, it would just get lost amongst the melee of modern equivalents and bogus offerings.

For the full report, and a round up of the area news and sport, please see this week's edition of the 'Post'.