Who would have expected that a silver butter dish used as an ashtray would fetch $7000 at an auction, however, the humble shell-shaped dish got its fame at the smoking hands of Sir Winston Churchill. The item that attracted interest from buyers around the world was sold to a UK-based private collector who wished to remain anonymous. The 200-year-old dish held ash of the world’s most iconic cigar smokers at a political dining club which met in the Savoy Hotel in London. Well, curbs on public smoking might have rendered them less necessary, but the lucky buyer deserves flicking cigar-ash into it for buying this humble piece of history.

Via: EDP 24495201