Olympic History Hits Auction Block

(ATR) November is auction month for Olympic memorabilia. Desirable and inspirational items, including a 1936 gold medal won by Jesse Owens, are featured in six worldwide sales.

The two biggest auctions will be conducted by Ulf Ström of Stockholm, Sweden (159 lots closing Friday) and by Ingrid O’Neil of California (708 lots closing Nov. 16). Both auctioneers will accept bids via mail, email, and telephone.

"I think the market is quite strong for the good pieces, and has grown over the years thanks to the internet," Ström tells Around the Rings.

He is offering a seldom-seen honorary official’s badge from 1904 St. Louis Olympics, which carries an estimate of $35,000. The complete catalog can be downloaded by clicking here.

"All badges from 1904 are extremely rare and a badge from St Louis 1904 is the key if you want one badge from each Olympic Games," Ström says. "It is also the only time in Olympic history the participation medal is part of a badge."

O’Neil tells ATR that she considers the collector market "quite strong and growing."

Among the 24 winners’ medals in her 72nd Olympic memorabilia auction, O’Neil is offering a gold medal from the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games in its original box. The estimate is $42,500 for the medal, which is the largest in Olympic history at 10 centimeters in diameter (3.9 inches).

"The Garmisch gold winner’s medal ranks as one of the rarest and most elusive to obtain," O’Neil says. "In almost 30 years, this is only the second time that I have offered it; the first time [was] at the first public auction of Olympic memorabilia during Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996."

At that time, the medal sold for $18,500, plus 15 percent commission.

Jesse Owens Medal

The most famous gold medals from 1936 were the four won by Owens in Berlin. In order, Owens won the 100 meters, the long jump, and the 200 meters, then ran a leg on the 400-meter relay.

Owens later gave the medal from the 200 to his friend, the dancer/actor Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, whose family is auctioning the medal through California-based SCP Auctions. Bidding is open Nov. 20-Dec. 7, and items can be viewed here.

Dan Imler, vice president of SCP, said what the medal could bring is "anyone’s guess. There are certain items that are really transcendent, that just go beyond the realm of sports memorabilia. To me, this is a piece of American history as much as it is a piece of sports memorabilia."

Imler added, "There are a handful of items in our field that eclipse the million-dollar mark, and this is certainly a candidate to do that."

Chamonix Treasure Trove

Ström’s rarest medal is a boxed silver medal from the first Winter Olympics, won by a member of the Swedish team at the 1924 Chamonix Games. The estimate is $35,000 and Ström will give the name of the athlete to the winning bidder. He also has a participant badge from Chamonix ($8,000), one of the most difficult to acquire.

A 1952 Helsinki badge inscribed IAAF President ($2,800 estimate) would presumably have belonged to Lord Burghley, but Ström said he did not have the provenance.

He also is offering the only type of official metal badge from the 1920 Antwerp Games ($10,000 estimate).

"I try to concentrate sourcing older official items, and official badges are my favorites," Ström says.

Torch Extravaganza and More

O’Neil’s auction also features 23 Summer Olympic torches and nine from the Winter Games, including the seldom-seen Lillehammer torch, which is 5 feet long ($22,000), and a complete set of participation medals offered individually.

A section of 45 official posters of the Olympic Summer and Winter Games includes familiar logos and themes.

O’Neil’s catalogue also encompasses badges, programs, tickets, official reports, mascots, diplomas, and souvenirs which include many porcelain plates. She says her offerings "really cover the most topics in all price ranges for all collectors."

British Auction Kicks Things Off

The first sporting sale of the month was a live event Monday conducted by Graham Budd Auctions at Sotheby’s New Bond Street sale room in London. The two gold medals won by Estonian cyclist Erika Salumae fetched 25,000 pounds apiece, which comes to $47,300 including buyer’s premium.

Salumae was the first woman to win a track cycling event, taking the gold in 1988 in the 1000m sprint for the Soviet Union, then winning Estonia’s first gold in 1992 after the country achieved independence. The bike she rode in Barcelona had a hammer price of 8,000 pounds.

Salumae’s memorabilia, which comprised nearly 20 lots, was removed from a museum in Estonia, which thought it had been given the items in perpetuity.

According to Estonian media Postimees, Salumae, who has been living in Spain, would not explain why she sold the bulk of her medals and competitive souvenirs. "I will not comment to Estonian media," she said in October, hanging up the phone.She reportedly has a grudge against Estonian media because of her treatment by a magazine she took to court.

"The emotions belong to the nation, the medals to the sportswoman," Neinar Seli, president of the Estonian Olympic Committee, said in Postimees. "Selling the medals is Ms. Salumae’s private business, explainable by her only. Still, I will have to admit, I’m surprised by the move."

Hockey Heaven

Classic Auctions, a hockey specialist from Canada, is conducting an internet auction closing Tuesday night. Several Olympic original and replica signed jerseys, including the 1988 jersey worn by Valery Kamensky of the USSR, are on the auction block.

Other lots feature Patrick Roy’s Nagano Olympics ID card, a souvenir hockey stick signed by the 2010 champion men’s team from Canada and a Team USA 10K gold ring for the 1988 Calgary and Seoul Olympics.

British auction house Bonham’s is next, with a live auction of sporting memorabilia Wednesday from Chester. There are only 12 Olympic lots, including items from the 1908 and 1948 London Olympics and torches from recent Olympics. The auction mainly consists of football items pertaining to George Best and Nat Lofthouse.

Beware Bulgarian Fakes

Questionable Olympic participation medals and badges on eBay are coming primarily out of Bulgaria. These suspicious items start at a fraction of their usual price. Upon close inspection of the photographs, the surfaces of the medals and badges appear rough with pitting. Most knowledgeable buyers are steering clear of the fakes, but some have sold. For example, this 1928 St. Moritz participation medal, which usually goes for about $800, sold for $306 in a private eBay auction.

In the past year, fake 1936 torches also came out of Bulgaria, again at a fraction of their cost. These torches had raised lettering on the handle instead of lettering that was engraved.

Written byKaren Rosen

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