Rare and valuable Olympics memorabilia that could be worth thousands of pounds

OLYMPICS fever is set to hit this week as the tournament kicks off in Paris. 

If you’re lucky enough to visit the Olympics either this year or in the past – then you might be able to make a tidy profit. 

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We spoke to David Convery, head of sporting collectables at Graham Budd Auctions, which specialises in memorabilia for major events like the Olympics, about exactly what to buy that could make you extra cash in the future. 

“The Olympics produce a vast amount of merchandise but, judging from previous sales, the mascot, daily programmes, memorabilia from demonstration sports and any unusual posters would be my top tip,” he said. 

He added that anything worn – and perhaps signed – by athletes will bring the highest prices, and provenance – proof that the item is genuine – is key to fetching the biggest sums. 

“Items that have premium value will have been worn by the athletes – and the more important the individual, the higher the value,” he said.

He said the rarest items are also most likely to grow in value the most.

“Memorabilia from the first modern games – in 1896 – would certainly be the most sought after, especially gold, silver and bronze medals,” said David. 

“We sold a 1908 Olympic gold medal awarded to footballer Clyde Purnell for £18,000. That was the last Olympic games to award actual gold and silver medals.” 

The most expensive medal ever sold was boxer Wladimir Klitschko’s gold for £780,000. 

National pride is also a factor in value – a gold medal won by cyclist Erika Salumae in 1992 reached £25,000 because it was the first ever won by an Estonian.  

The modern day medals are 550g sterling silver (the gold ones are covered with a 6g gold coating and are worth around £540 as their material value), whole the bronze is made from copper and zinc and worth less than a fiver.

This year’s medals, however, feature a piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower.

Of course, not many athletes are willing to sell their precious winning medals – but easier to come by are the participant’s medal, which every competitor receives for taking part.

“These can be picked up for around £50-350, depending on the games,” David said.

“The 1904 St Louis Olympic Games had an extremely rare athlete’s participation medal because there were fewer athletes, so fewer were produced – they can fetch £10,000-15,000.

“The daily programmes and tickets would also appeal to collectors.”

Posters, David said, are a more affordable way to get into Olympic collectibles.

“These are much sought after, especially the originals. They are wonderfully colourful, great visually and can fetch big sums,” he said.

“Prices for modern examples start from £100, while some of the oldest can reach into the thousands. The 1908 Olympic poster by Alfred Johnson sold for £15,000.”

The first official Olympic poster was for Stockholm in 1912 and one sold for £2,600 in 2012, while the 1948 London Olympics fetched £1,000.

Olympic torches, meanwhile, can be worth a fortune – the biggest price ever achieved was a torch from the 1960 Winter Olympics in California’s Squaw Valley, designed by Disney artist John Hench, which sold for $720,000 (£563,000).

Graham Budd sold a torch from the Helsinki Winter Olympics for £420,000.

“Only 22 torches were produced and 15 were made of solid silver,” David explained.

A torch from the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, meanwhile, sold for $187,500 (£146,000) because only 33 were made, while a rare one from the Melbourne Games in 1956 sold for £400,000.

“The equestrian events were banned in Australia due to quarantine laws so all horse related events were held in Stockholm, where only a few torches were produced,” David explained.

“Torches from our 2012 London Olympics are quite common as 12,000 were made and one given to everyone who carried it – still, they can fetch around £1,200 at auction.

“The Paris games have produced just 2,000, which means they will be of higher value in the future.”  

 The most valuable items of  Olympic memorabilia ever sold

1. The Olympic Manifesto by Pierre De Coubertin, 1892 – $8,806,000 (£6,880,000)

The original copy of the speech outlining the vision for a modern reboot of the ancient Olympics was sold by Sotheby’s in 2019 and donated to the Olympic Museum in Switzerland. It’s the most expensive piece of sporting memorabilia ever sold

2. Jesse Owens Olympic Gold medal, 1936 – $1.46 million (£1,098,000)

One of the greatest Olympians of all time, Jesse Owens, won four golds in 100m, 200m, long jump and the relay in the Berlin games

3. Wladimir Klitschko’s gold medal, 1996 – $1,000,000 (£780,000)

The super heavyweight boxer sold his medal from the Atlanta games to raise funds for his charity for Ukrainian children – the buyer gave him the medal back on hearing his reason for the auction

4. Breal’s Silver Cup won by Spyridon Louis, 1896 – $861,000 (£673,000)

Spyridon Louis was a Greek shepherd who won the marathon in the first ever modern Olympics in Athens

5. Mike Eruzione’s Miracle On Ice shirt, 1980 – $657,000 (£514,000)

A Winter Olympics’s ice hockey game between the US and the then Soviet Union was dubbed the ‘Miracle on Ice’ when the US team of amateurs beat the more professional, experienced Soviets – Mike Eruzione, the  team  captain, scored the winning goal wearing this shirt.

6. 1952 Helsinki torch – £420,000

Graham Budd Auctions sold this to the ex owner of Saracens Rugby Club Nigel Wray – only 15 were made for that year’s Winter Olympics and five of them were lost during the relay.

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