Cigar box autographed by Fidel Castro sells for $27,000

A box of premium Cuban cigars autographed by Fidel Castro was sold at auction for $26,950, Boston-based RR Auction said on Thursday.

The box contains 24 hand-made Trinidad Fundadores cigars and retains the original seal, the auction house said.

Castro (1926-2016) presented the box in March 2002 to philanthropist Dr. Eva Haller and his signature, written in blue ink, remains visible on the wood surface, Efe reported.

The box was sold along with a photograph of Castro giving it to Haller.

"Castro handed to me the box of cigars. He gave them to me, because I jokingly asked him for it, when others lit a cigar," Haller recounted in a 2002 letter.

"I told him, that if he signs the box, I will sell it and make lots of money. He thought that was funny," she wrote.

Trinidad cigars went into production in 1969 and were long used by the Cuban government as gifts for foreign heads of state. The island began to export the premium smokes in 1998.

"The cigars were an integral part of Castro's image and, as such, this signed box is a truly remarkable historical article," Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of RR Auction, said.

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