Follow in Winston Churchill’s footsteps with a pair of his slippers at auction
24 February 2021 A pair of velvet evening slippers and a brandy glass once belonging to Sir Winston Churchill are coming to an online auction.
Velvet evening slippers estimated at £10,000-15,000 and a brandy balloon estimated at £7000-10,000 were both once owned by Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and will be auctioned on March 9.
Churchill (1874-1965) was a well-known drinker (his tipple was whisky in the morning and evening, separating the champagne at lunch) and this brandy balloon, with large tulip-shaped bowl decorated in white enamel was used by Churchill in c.1960. It is monogrammed WSC, signed E Pope and is estimated at £7000-10,000.
The midnight blue velvet evening slippers from the 1950s with the initials WSC are stamped N. Tuczek (a Mayfair shoemaker) and are estimated at £10,000-15,000.
Both will be offered at an auction at Bellmans’ on March 9 in its Interiors sale.
Both lots were sold for the first time by Churchill’s family in the Political Sale at Sotheby's in July 1998, where the present owner purchased them.
Items from the two-times prime minister enjoy strong demand at auction.
Julian Dineen, specialist in charge of the sale at Bellmans, said: “Both his paintings and personal property have risen considerably since that 1990s Political Sale. It is only the second opportunity to acquire these wonderful pieces of Churchilliana and we therefore expect there to be significant interest."
On December 16, 2020, Sotheby’s New York sold Churchill’s 1940s leather briefcase which was hammered down at $28,000.
Churchill’s pictures are highly sought after and the highest price at auction for a painting by the former statesman is the £1.5m bid for The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell from 1932 that sold at Sotheby’s London in December 2014.
