A cigar half-smoked by wartime leader Winston Churchill during a conference in Bermuda is to go up for auction.

The British Prime Minister, who led the Allies to victory in the Second World War, lit up the La Aroma de Cuba cigar while holding talks with US President Dwight Eisenhower and French Premier Joseph Laniel at the Mid Ocean Club in December, 1953.

According to UK newspaper reports, a soldier guarding the meeting room picked up the still-smouldering cigar after the talks had ended, and kept it as a souvenir.

In a letter of provenance declaring the authenticity of the cigar, Sergeant Rudolph Hughes said: “The conference lasted several hours.

“When over, and the conference room emptied, Capt Sinnet and myself and others, went in for souvenirs.

“Capt Sinnet took small flags of each country involved. Myself, I took Winston Churchill’s still smoking cigar from his ashtray, stubbed it out, and have kept it for 50 years.”

According to The Daily Express newspaper, Sgt Hughes sold the cigar ten years ago and the new owner is now putting it up for auction, where it is expected to make a sale price of $4,500 [£3,000]

Sgt Hughes’ Bermuda driving licence and several Royal Gazette press cuttings about the three-day meeting will also be sold.

Adrian Roose, from Bristol-based PFC Auctions, which is organising the sale. told the newspaper: “It’s rare to see a half-smoked Churchill cigar at auction.

“Unused cigars sell for a few hundred pounds, but collectors love half smoked ones, knowing that Churchill actually puffed away on it is a huge deal.

“Provenance is everything with items like this, otherwise it’s just hearsay. This provenance comes directly from the soldier guarding the meeting room, it doesn’t get much better.

“When we think of an image of Churchill, the cigar isn’t far away.

“It’ll make a great display piece and great dinner party conversation, regardless of who purchases it — museums, collectors, or just someone interested in buying a small piece of Winston Churchill history.

“He is consistently voted the greatest Briton of all time. He is an iconic figure and from a collecting point of view there really isn’t that much Churchill memorabilia available.

“There’s the odd letter and signature, but personal items, like his dentures, his spectacles, his half smoked cigars, they’re the items collectors fight over.”

The deadline for the online auction is October 1.