MORE ON THE FIRST OLYMPIC MEDAL

 

As we're still watching our Olympic team compete for gold, I thought I'd follow up to the 1896 Olympic medal portrayed in last week's E-Sylum currently offered for sale by Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen. The 1896 silver Olympic medals were only awarded to the winners of the 43 events which were held in nine different sports. Engraved by Jules-Clement Chaplain, the Paris Mint's official medalist at the time, the medals were struck, had a dull or brushed finish, and measured 50 millimeters in diameter.

The medal's obverse portrays Zues with beard and curling hair, often remarked for its similarity to the famous mask of Jupiter found at Otricoli, Italy, and now housed in the Vatican Museum. In his right hand Zues holds a globe upon which balances the winged figure of Victory holding a laurel branch. On the left is a perpendicular "Olympia" in Greek. The reverse portrays the Acropolis topped with the ruins of the Parthenon, with the Propylaea to the left. On the far left, barely visible, rises the peak of Corydallus, from which, according to legend, Xerxes viewed the Battle of Salamis and the destruction of his Persian fleet. The Greek legend atop the reverse reads, "International Olympic Games," and in the exergue, in two lines, it reads, "At Athens, 1896."

 
A Bronze version of the medal was awarded to 2nd place finishers

A bronze version was also created and awarded to all second-place finishers, with third-place finishers receiving no official award. The silver version was "recycled" for use in a non-IOC-sanctioned Olympics in 1906. However, since it was not approved by the International Olympic Committee, the results and the event itself were disqualified and removed from all official records. They are often referred to the "Forgotten Olympics."

 

The silver medal design was re-used for the unofficial and non-sanctioned Olympics of 1906. The IOC disqualified all results and as such they are often called the "forgotten Olympics."

The 1896 silver medals are extremely rare and highly prized by collectors of both medals and Olympics memorabilia. That rarity is reflected in the minimum opening bid for the medal currently being offered by Bruun Rasmussen - $22,000., although the final price will likely far exceed that amount.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE WORLD'S FIRST OLYMPIC MEDAL (https://www.coinbooks.org/v29/esylum_v29n06a29.html)

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