Medals, Rare Olympic Torches Up for Grabs

(ATR) Examples of the rarest Olympic torches seem to be coming out of the woodwork for sale at auction while U.S. swimmer Brooke Bennett hopes to ride the wave of high medal prices by putting her three gold medals on the block.

A 1952 Helsinki torch with its original burner is one of only 15 with a silver bowl and 22 overall, according to London auctioneer Graham Budd. The torch carries an estimate of up to 400,000 pounds/$631,000 and will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Saleroom as part of a Sporting Memorabilia sale on Monday.

For information, go to the Graham Budd Auctions website.

The auction house notes that a similar Helsinki torch fetched $386,000 in a Paris auction in 2011, but did not have its burner.

Overrun with Oslo Torches

Meanwhile, there were only 95 torches for the first Winter Olympic torch relay in 1952, but three have turned up in separate auctions within the past three months.

Heritage Auctions, based in Dallas, is offering an Oslo torch engraved with the bearer’s name in its sale closing tonight.

The reserve of $35,000 ($41,825 with buyer’s premium) was not met as of this morning.

In the description, Heritage hastens to point out, "A solid $71,700 result for the sale of another example of this ultra-rare relic in our February 2015 Platinum Night auction inspired another Norwegian family to part with their own, though we advise that the appearance of two in successive auctions should not fool collectors into believing this is a common occurrence."

In March, U.S.-based auctioneer Ingrid O’Neil had no buyers for an Oslo torch which was not engraved with the torchbearer’s name. However, the minimum bid for that torch was $75,000 with an additional 15 percent buyer’s premium.

Winners’ Medals Take Off

Most winners’ medals in the past 50 years have been engraved with the name of the sport and/or the event, which makes it easier to identify the original owners.

Heritage is offering the three gold medals won by Bennett over the course of two Olympic Games. The "signature" auction closes tonight and only bidders who have submitted bids before 10 p.m. Central time can take part in extended bidding.

Bennett won her first gold medal at age 16 at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the 800-meter freestyle. Four years later, she won two gold medals in Sydney.

"As fastest woman in both the 400M and 800M, Bennett quite firmly stamped her name in the record books as the greatest distance swimmer alive in Sydney, where this medal dangled from her neck as the anthem played," saysthe description.

The estimate for each medal is more than $10,000. Like many Atlanta gold medals, the plating is spotty on the Bennett 1996 medal. None of the medals are listed with their original wooden boxes.

About Time for One Item

Football items make up the bulk of the 1,273-item Graham Budd auction, which also includes athletics, boxing, cricket, golf, auto racing, tennis, snooker, lacrosse, rugby and other sports.

One item of note is a stopwatch used by one of the timekeepers at Iffley Road, Oxford, on the occasion of Sir Roger Bannister running the first sub-four minute mile in 1954.

The lot includes a program autographed by Bannister and an autographed copy of Bannister’s autobiography and has an estimate of $7,885-$12,616.

English Auction Awash in Medals

Last November, the collecting world was astounded when an 1896 Athens silver medal fetched 180,000 pounds/$283,860, about four times its estimate, in a Graham Budd auction. This time around, Budd is offering a gold Chamonix medal ($39,425-$55,195) acquired from a Finnish collection and a 1960 Squaw Valley gold medal for skating ($47,310-$55,195). O’Neil sold a Squaw Valley gold for skating for $56,926 in March.

Budd also has a 1924 Paris gold in its original box ($18,924-$23,655), a 1928 Amsterdam gold awarded to Swedish heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler Rudolf Svensson ($15,770-$23,655), a 1908 silver medal from tug-of-war awarded to the Liverpool police representing Great Britain ($7,097-$8,674) and a 1912 gold medal and assorted other items from swimmer Annie Speirs ($14,193-$18,924).

Buy It Now on eBay

Nate D. Sanders, an autograph and memorabilia dealer in Los Angeles, has 22 winners’ medals on eBay at "Buy it Now" prices of $22,500 for gold medals and $15,000 for silver and bronze medals. Each lot also has a "Best Offer" option.

The three gold medals are from the 1906, 1912 and 1928 Summer Olympics. Silver medals are available from 1906 (two examples), 1912 (two examples, one with a box), 1920 and 1936 (three examples, including two awarded to Swiss gymnast Eugen Mack). Bronze medals are from the Games of 1912 (two examples), 1920 (two examples with boxes), 1928 (two summer and two winter), 1932, 1952 and 2004.

Although these prices seem high, on Thursday, Sanders sold a 1992 Barcelona bronze medal that did not have a ribbon for $12,500.

Written by Karen Rosen

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