Olympic Collectibles

On Friday, July 26th, all eyes turned to Paris and the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Over the next 16 days, athletes from 206 countries will participate in 329 events in 32 sports. For fans of the Games, it’s also the season of Olympic collectibles as memorabilia from past games returns to the forefront of the resale market and new collectible merch goes on sale.

In this market, collectible categories are as varied as the games themselves: Year of Game, Sport, Medalist, Country…and then the items themselves, everything from stamps and pins to t-shirts, uniforms, badges, medals, posters, official programs, autographs, and any number of other associated items.

Values are as diverse as the categories themselves and can range from a few dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars for extremely old and/or scarce items. What can also add a premium to the value of a particular item is its provenance. As one might expect, those items that once belonged to famous athletes and/or officials and can be documented as such will always sell for more than similar items lacking this pedigree.

From jerseys to a torch, here are six of the most expensive pieces of Olympic memorabilia sold at auction according to an article for NBC News:

·         1. Pierre de Coubertin’s Olympic Games Manifesto: $8.8 million: In 1892, Frenchman Charles Pierre de Frédy wrote a 14-page manifesto in which he outlined the revival of the Olympic Games. De Frédy then used the manifesto to give a speech at the Sorbonne, which resulted in the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. However, the manifesto went missing during the World Wars until it resurfaced in the 1990s in Switzerland, according to the IOC.

·         2. Jesse Owens’ 1936 Olympics gold medal: $1.4 million: In 2013, one of Jesse Ownes’ four 1936 Berlin Olympics gold medals sold for $1,466,574, which became the most expensive Olympic item ever sold at an auction at a time. The prized medal was sold as part of the state of Elaine Plaines-Robinson, the wife of entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, to whom Ownes had gifted it. Owens won gold medals in the 100m, 200m, the long jump, and the 4×100m relay at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, though it was unclear which event this medal is from.

·         3. Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko gold medal: $1 million: Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko’s gold medal from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics sold for $1 million at an auction in 2012, according to an interview he did with CNN at the time. The medal, from boxing’s superweight division, was one of the first ever won by Ukraine during its first Olympic Games since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

·         4. Breal’s silver cup: $861,129: While the modern Olympic Games are known for rewarding athletes with medals, in 1896, during the game’s first marathon race since its resurrection, athletes were given silver cups. This particular cup, won by Greek marathon runner Spyridon Louis, was designed by Frenchman Michel Breal, hence the cup’s nickname. The cup was sold to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for $861,129 at a Christie’s auction in 2012.

·         5. Mike Eruzione’s ‘Miracle on Ice’ hockey jersey: $657,250: In the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, the U.S. faced off against the Soviet Union, who at the time had won all but one hockey game at any Olympics since 1957. While the game, dubbed the “Miracle on Ice,” was not for the gold medal, it was particularly significant due to the political and cultural tensions that both nations were facing at the time. The jersey, worn by Mike Eruzione, the team’s captain and winning goal-scorer, sold at an auction for $657,250 in 2013.

·         6. 1952 Helsinki Olympic torch: $542,818: The 1952 Games of the XV Olympiad (more commonly known as the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics) were only the second Olympics held after World War II and the first that Israel and the Soviet Union competed in. Olympic torches are a prized collectible, but their value depends largely on how many were made. For example, there were over 3,800 torches produced for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. On the other hand, only 22 torches were created for the 1952 Helsinki Games, making them extremely desirable amongst collectors. One particular example sold at a Sotheby’s auction for £420,000 (approx. $650,000 at the time) in May 2015.

Source: https://www.nbcdfw.com/paris-2024-summer-olympics/most-expensive-memorabilia-olympic-history/3596254/

From her blog, Antiques Appraiser Dr. Lori offers these thoughts for buying and selling Olympics-related items for future gain:

1.      Pins and Ticket Stubs: “No pain, no gain. If you only invest a little bit of money into an Olympic collectible–in the form of a ticket stub or collectible pin–then you will only get a small amount in return. That being said, I have valued some pins for 175 dollars. So know the difference between collectible and valuable. Also, don’t waste your money on Olympic-related items that are part of a fast food restaurant meal; however, Olympic games programs can be valuable.

2.      Big Name Athletes: Collect the objects associated with big name athletes and celebrities. For instance, the object that you acquired from Michael Phelps in Beijing in 2008 is worth a lot more money than the value of that puck you got from a member of the Jamaica ice hockey team in Vancouver 2010.

3.      Unusual Items: Don’t overlook unusual objects that are special only to a particular Olympic games like mascot memorabilia– Izzy (1996 Atlanta), Misha the bear (1980 Moscow), Cobi the dog (1992 Barcelona), Athena (Athens 2004), and Wenlock and Mandeville (2012 London).”

Looking to learn more about collecting Olympic memorabilia – for fun and investment? Check out the AICO – the International Association of Olympic Collectors – for more information: