Winston Churchill's half-smoked cigar auctioned off for more than $15,000

One of Winston Churchill's trademark cigars has sold at auction after being described as 'a truly delightful relic of history'.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is one of the controversial figures whose statue has been defaced. Source: AAP

What do you get the man who has everything? One wealthy buyer might have the answer after he bought a half-smoked cigar at auction for $15,185 that was once graced by the lips of Sir Winston Churchill.

The wartime British prime minister smoked the cigar on May 11, 1947, at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, the US auction house RR Auction said in a statement released on Friday.

The little piece of history, measuring 10 centimetres and with a red-and-gold band at the end bearing Churchill's name, was kept by Corporal William Alan Turner, who was a member of the cabin crew on the flight that day.

This recent photograph provided by RR Auction shows a cigar once smoked by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Source: RR Auction/AAP

"He stubbed out his cigar in an ashtray when he came aboard, and I took the remains into protective custody," reads a handwritten note on the back of a picture accompanying the cigar, which was written by Turner, according to the statement.

The picture shows Churchill boarding the plane, cigar in hand.

The stump was auctioned online on Wednesday by a collector in Florida.

The cigar was described by the auction house as "an integral component of Churchill's public image" and "a truly delightful relic of history".