Hermann Goering's cigars auctioned for £1,300 in Lincoln Published duration 21 August 2013

image caption Hermann Goering was a close confidant of Adolf Hitler

image caption Goering lived a lavish lifestyle, throwing grand parties at his Brandenburg home

image caption He was sentenced to death by hanging at the Nuremberg Trials but committed suicide shortly before his punishment could be carried out

Cigars removed from the home of Hermann Goering at the end of World War II have been sold at auction.

Specially made for Goering, the cigars were taken from the cellars of the Reichsmarschall's home in Brandenburg and went for £1,300.

A private vendor, who inherited the cigars from a relative, put them up for sale in Lincoln.

Goering killed himself in 1946 the night before he was due to be hanged as a war criminal.

John Leatt, auctioneer from Golding Young and Mawer, said they were "unusual items" in an "untouched condition".

They were bought by an overseas online bidder and went for more than the expected price of £800-£1,200.

Hitler's right-hand man

The cigar boxes bear the words "Sondernfertigung Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering", which means "Specially made for Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering".

His initials, personal coat of arms and the supplier's name, Gildemann Ltd, are also printed on the box.

Until the final days of the war, Goering had been named as Hitler's successor in the event of the Nazi leader's death.

Goering lived a lavish lifestyle, often entertaining guests at his grand manor house in Schorfheide Forest in Brandenburg, near Berlin.

As commander-in-chief of the German Luftwaffe, he was humiliated by the RAF's destruction of cities such as Cologne and Hamburg.

Goering was tried at the Nuremberg Trials and found guilty of war crimes.

Sentenced to death, he managed to cheat the hangman by taking cyanide on 15 October 1946.