President Roosevelt’s personally-owned and -used cigarette holder, measuring 3.5″ long, featuring a yellow celluloid body with a metal tip to secure the cigarette. Includes a detailed letter of provenance on White House letterhead from White House worker and wife of Arthur S. Prettyman, who had served as Roosevelt’s valet from 1939 until his death in 1945, and continued to work for President Truman until he left office. In part: “It gives me pleasure to present to you one of the cigarette holders owned and used by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was given to my husband, Arthur S. Prettyman, by the President sometime during World War II…This cigarette holder which President Roosevelt used has a soft celluloid tip measuring 2 1/2 inches. The silver looking end that held the cigarette is almost 1 1/4 inches long with four rings as a design. President Roosevelt smoked (unfortunately) Camel cigarettes incessantly. He is well known for always using a cigarette holder. This is a most personal possession of the President.” President Roosevelt was indeed known for the trademark cigarette holder dangling from his mouth—he was often seen in photographs and political cartoons with the device clenched between his lips, and it soon became part of the image of FDR ingrained in the public imagination. With its classic celluloid construction and intimate use by the president, this is a fantastic memento from both the era and Roosevelt’s presidency. A remarkable FDR relic to be treasured by the most discriminating of collectors.
