Over 400 items of Olympic memorabilia are currently up for auction via Ingrid O’Neil Auctions, INC. These items are a unique addition to those who are into collecting or for anyone looking to add athletic-specific items to their home.
The items up for auction include a large number of Olympic medals, Olympic torches, and IOC badges. The oldest medal up for auction dates back to the 1904 St. Louis Games, featuring a minimum bid of $8,000. For those of you looking for something a bit more extravagant, a rare gold medal from the 1912 Stockholm Games is available for a minimum bid of $300,000.
Plenty of Olympic torches are available for a wide range of prices. A torch from the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics has a minimum bid of $1,800 while one from the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics has a minimum bid of $22,000.
The lot of items include a number of swimming specific items:
- The swimsuit that Judy Grinham of Great Britain wore to win gold in the 100 backstroke at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics.
- Official Programs from the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics
- A record and book set from the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. The records include audio recordings of the “100 and 400 meter finals.”
- A Swimming and Diving Official’s badge from the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics
Other interesting items up for auction include:
- A sheet of 20 tickets to the 1900 Paris World Exposition.
- A set of wood houses and trees depicting the Olympic Village from the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics
- Juror’s, Judge’s, and Time Keeper’s badges
- Almanacs, Programs, and Winner’s Diplomas
- Items from the canceled 1940 Summer Olympics. The games were originally scheduled for Tokyo and were then granted to Helsinki but ultimately canceled due to World War II. Items from both Tokyo and Helsinki are up for auction.
The auction ends on Saturday April 24 at 11:00pm EDT.
On one level, it is good to see that items over 100 years old continue to fascinate collectors.
Yet, how many Olympic athletes felt compelled– for a variety of reasons– to sell their medals for financial support.
Bittersweet.
Quite a few
Yup, and current people that can make the Olympics don’t know anything about past Olympics before 2,000 much. My swim pro had a swim jeography. Cody Miller and Zach Harding, and a Michael from Jamaica didn’t know that swimming was introduce in the Olympics in 1896. The first Olympics was somewhat a tricky question because its going back to ancient Greece so it was Olympia. Swimmers seem to not be history majors in school.