Olympic winner’s medals from 1896, 1908 and 1924 headline RR Auction sale

Collectors of Olympic medals and Olympic numismatic material will have an opportunity to pursue some of the rarest prize medals from the early modern Games when RR Auction presents its Olympics sale, which closes July 23.

The auction includes more than 50 Olympic winner’s medals spanning more than a century of competition, highlighted by prize medals from the 1896 Athens Olympic Games, the 1908 London Olympic Games, and the inaugural Winter Olympic Games held at Chamonix in 1924.

Among the earliest offerings is a bronze second-place winner’s medal from the 1896 Athens Olympic Games, the first Modern Olympic Games. Designed by French medalist Jules-Clément Chaplain, the 50-millimeter bronze medal depicts Zeus holding Nike, the goddess of Victory, on the obverse, while the reverse features the Acropolis crowned by the Parthenon.

The medal also reflects the original Olympic award system. At the 1896 Games, first-place finishers received silver medals, second-place athletes were awarded bronze medals, and no medal was presented for third place. The now-familiar gold, silver and bronze sequence was not adopted until the 1904 Olympic Games. According to the auction description, approximately 150 bronze second-place medals were originally struck for the Athens Games.

Another featured lot is a gilt silver first-place winner’s medal from the inaugural Winter Olympic Games at Chamonix, France, in 1924. Designed by French sculptor Raoul Bénard, the 55-millimeter medal weighs 75 grams. Its obverse portrays a victorious athlete raising skis and ice skates before the Alps, while the reverse carries an extensive French inscription commemorating the Winter Sports Week organized under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee.

The Chamonix Games were the first Winter Olympic Games. Sixteen nations were represented, and only 294 athletes competed. According to the official medal count cited in the auction description, just 33 first-place winner’s medals were awarded, making surviving examples especially elusive.

Also offered is the solid gold winner’s medal awarded to Harry Scott Freeman, captain of England’s field hockey team, at the 1908 London Olympic Games. The medal is accompanied by two official winner’s diplomas, an original portrait of Freeman, a team tie, and a boater hat band.

Designed by Bertram Mackennal and manufactured by Vaughton & Sons, the 34-millimeter gold medal was awarded following England’s victory over Ireland in the first Olympic field hockey tournament. Solid gold medals were awarded at only four Olympic Games—1900, 1904, 1908, and 1912—making the Freeman medal an especially desirable relic from the formative years of the modern Olympic movement.

According to the auction description, Olympic medal-awarding practices at the time differed from those of today. Contemporary examples from other team events at the 1908 Games demonstrate that designated representatives, such as captains or first mates, were sometimes awarded the gold medal on behalf of the winning side, while other team members received silver winner’s medals.

The sale also includes later Olympic prize medals, including the gold winner’s medal awarded to Russian cross-country skier Yevgeny Dementyev for his victory in the men’s 30-kilometer pursuit at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games. The distinctive gilt silver medal, designed by Quatrini and minted by Ottaviani International, measures 106 millimeters and was, at the time of the Games, the largest Olympic winner’s medal yet produced. Its central opening was designed to suspend directly over the heart of the winning athlete as a symbol of life, energy, and human emotion.

Beyond winner’s medals, the auction features a collection of 25 official Olympic relay torches spanning Berlin 1936 through Paris 2024, tracing the evolution of the Olympic torch relay from its debut at the Berlin Games through the most recent Summer Olympics.

RR Auction’s Olympics sale closes July 23 and includes more than 300 Olympic lots, among them 56 Olympic winner’s medals spanning the history of the modern Games.

For more, visit www.rrauction.com.