Fidel Castro & Che Guevara Personal Property Collection - Auction Preview

Paul Fraser Collectibles is honoured to bring to auction: 

The Fidel Castro & Che Guevara Personal Property Collection 

The May 26-June 23 online auction features 39 momentous lots of never-before-seen Cuban history. Including:

  • Fidel Castro's personal secret message cigar box from prison
  • Che Guevara's personal water bottle from the Cuban revolution
  • Fidel Castro's personal assassination-prevention cigar box

Email info@paulfrasercollectibles.com now with subject line "Castro Collection" to register your interest in the auction. Or call +44 (0)1534 639 998

Fidel Castro lived in constant fear of assassination by the CIA.  

It’s why only Castro and a select group of trusted bodyguards could touch his personal belongings. 

Today, that changes. Because this is a once in a century opportunity... 

...To acquire the personal property of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Intimate items few people knew existed until this auction.  

These extraordinarily personal pieces are unlike any Cuban artefacts offered for auction before.

They span the earliest days of the Cuban Revolution, to Castro’s last years. And transform our understanding of the Cuban Revolution.  

Each comes with impeccable provenance - originally from the estate of Fidel Castro’s long term mistress Natty Revuelta Clews. 

And this is likely the first and last opportunity you have to own them.

Explore the auction in person at our viewing day at the Royal Yacht Hotel, Jersey, Channel Islands on Wednesday June 15, from 2pm to 8pm.

Key lots: 

Fidel Castro’s secret message cigar box with hidden doors, and secret letter

Used by Castro to organise the Cuban revolution while in prison from 1953-1955. Castro secret cigar box

Estimate: £100,000+ 

Che Guevara’s personal water bottle from the Cuban revolution

Signed by Guevara to avoid contracting malaria through using the wrong bottle.

Guevara water bottle

Estimate: £10,000+

Fidel Castro’s assassination-prevention cigar box

Castro signed the cigar box to mark it as his. Only he and his closest security team could touch it. This minimised the risk of the CIA planting a bomb or poisoned cigar in the box. Castro cigar box

Estimate: £30,000+

130 original print photos of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro and Che Guevara - many of them never-before-seen

73 of the original prints were taken by Castro’s personal photographer, Alberto Korda.  

Cuba photo

Estimate: £50,000+

Fidel Castro signed Cuba flag

Fidel Castro signed flag

Estimate: £15,000+

Paul Fraser, founder of Paul Fraser Collectibles, comments: “The word to sum up this auction is: 'personal'.

"These aren't just pieces Castro and Guevara briefly touched or signed. These items were their personal property. Used by these extraordinary figures of 20th century history on a daily basis. 

"And that makes this auction unique. 

“I’m expecting huge interest. Because after this auction, there is nothing else of this magnitude set to emerge ever again. If you’re a Cuba collector, this is the auction you’ve been waiting for.”

Provenance

The collection was acquired by the present owner at the estate sale of Fidel Castro's mistress Natty Revuelta Clews (1926-2015), between December 2015 and July 2016.

The present owner is British businessman Mr Gary Shannon, who knew the Castro family and their associates for 20+ years from circa 2000. Mr Shannon helped provide technology and communications infrastructure to Cuba.

 The auction also features: 

  • Fidel Castro's personal ashtray: Estimate £10,000+
  • Fidel Castro's personal machete: Estimate £7,000+
  • Fidel Castro and Che Guevara's personal fishing rods: Estimate £10,000+ each
  • Che Guevara's personal signed Cuba flag from the Bay of Pigs invasion: Estimate £20,000+
  • Che Guevara's personal lighter: Estimate £4,000+

The auction runs from Thursday May 26 to Thursday June 23, 2022. 

Bidding is online at Paul Fraser Collectibles from May 26: https://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/