Winston Churchill Orchids painting to make $1.2m at auction

Winston Churchill's Still Life With Orchids from 1936 is coming to auction later in the month

An artwork depicting orchids by former British prime minister Winston Churchill is coming to auction with a £750,000 estimate later in the month.

The work will be auctioned at an art fair in London, taking place between 28 June to 4 July.

Churchill's paintings are worth more than Hitler's

Keen painter Churchill gave Still Life With Orchids to Margot Sandys, the wife of his daughter's father-in-law in 1936. It has remained in the Sandys household ever since.

We believe that the £750,000 valuation to be an accurate one, considering previous results for his works - Churchill's 1951 View Of Tinherir sold for £612,800 at Sotheby's back in December 2006.

Churchill art expert David Coombs commented: "Such complex and delicate forms would be difficult to tackle even for a professionally trained painter and it reveals not only his liking for the flowers, but his characteristic determination to paint them whatever the difficulties."

As skilled as he was at painting, the work's considerable estimate clearly has more to do with the Churchill name than the brushstrokes themselves.

The market for Winston Churchill memorabilia is booming.

A half-finished cigar sold for £4,500 at a UK auction in 2010, while a set of his dentures made £17,480 in 2010, 249.6% above their £5,000 estimate.

His signature too is showing impressive returns - up 7.82% pa in value since 2000, from £2,600 to £5,950 in 2011, according to the PFC40 Autograph Index.

Click here to view a stunning handwritten Churchill-signed letter you can purchase today, for £1,000 less than the index value.

Churchill's artworks achieve far greater prices than Adolf Hitler's efforts, whose pieces have sold for $53,000 in the past.

Recent and related articles

·  Unseen Winston Churchill photograph up 25% on estimate at UK auction | 16 April 2012

·  Falklands surrender Telex makes $11,522 at Bonhams' Marine Sale | 4 April 2012

·  Bonhams to auction hidden English antique pistol collection | 4 April 2012

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Images: MacConnal-Mason Gallery at Masterpiece