A set of Winston Churchill's false teeth is expected to fetch up to $10,000 when it goes on sale in England next month, CNN reports.
The former British prime minister had several sets of upper dentures, which were specially made to preserve his natural wheeze, and were mounted on gold, according to the Cotswold Auction Company, which organized the sale in Cheltenham on Feb. 6.
After losing several teeth while still in his 20s, Churchill carried with him at all times two sets of dentures that allowed him to deliver the rousing speeches for which he was so famous.
This set was probably made at the start of World War II, the auction house said, and "must be among the most unusual items we have ever sold," added director Liz Poole.
Designed by Churchill's dentist, Wilfred Fish, and made by technician Derek Cudlipp, this set was first listed for sale by Cudlipp's son, Nigel, in 2010, when it fetched $23,700.
"According to Nigel Cudlipp, his father said he could always tell how the war was going from the distance Winston was throwing his teeth," said Andrew Bullock of Keys Auction House in Aylsham, East Anglia. "They tended to break, especially when Churchill got a bit angry."
One set is believed to be buried with Churchill himself, while another is on display at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.
Other WWII memorabilia will also be sold at the auction. The microphone with which Churchill is believed to have delivered his Independence Day speech on May 8, 1945, is expected to fetch up to $10,000, and a 1941 autograph book filled with 107 signatures of Royal Air Force pilots, many of whom participated in the Battle of Britain, could sell for $25,000. / BGNES
