The November 2012 Baltimore Auction - US and World Lots - Live and Internet Only Sessions

Pre-Bidding Ends: 11/14/2012 6:00:00 AM PST
Live Floor and Internet Bidding Begins: 11/14/2012 7:00:00 AM PST

Lot #192. 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair Olympic Games Participation Medal. Bronze. Octagonal, 44.4 mm. Gadoury-2, Eberhardt p. 114.b. Mint State.

Rare 1904 Saint Louis Olympics Participation Medal
Description: Obv. nude male athlete strides r. holding a laurel spray, OLYMPIC / GAMES -- SAINT / LOUIS at the sides, 19 -- U.S.A. -- 04 below, a minute DIEGES & CLUST N.Y. appears at base. Rev. 1803 / UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION / COMMEMORATING THE / OLYMPIC GAMES / 1904 / PHYSICAL CULTURE DEPARTMENT / FREDERICK J.V. SKIFF / DIRECTOR OF EXHIBITS / JAS. E. SULLIVAN / CHIEF OF DEPT., expo shield at top and small shields at lower right present eagle and fleur de lis are both placed in a flourish of ivy. Soft rose-brown surfaces, and accompanied by only the bottom half of the original box.

Here is a major rarity of all modern Olympic medals, absent from even the most advanced collections. The first modern Olympic Games founded by Baron Pierre de Coubertin were held in Athens in 1896. The Athens and 1900 Paris Games enjoyed increasing success and set the tradition of Olympic medals. The decision to hold the Games of the III Olympiad (the four-year interval culminating in the next Games) in distant St. Louis, Missouri, in conjunction with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (LPE) was the kiss of death to the dignity of the Games. Handled by the "Director of Exhibits" in an expo back closet called the Physical Culture Department, the Games were totally overshadowed by the World's Fair. Only 554 athletes from 11 countries appeared. American marathon runner Fred Lorz came in first only to be disqualified on a technicality of being followed in an auto. His countryman Ray Ewry triumphed in the broad and high jump and the hop-skip-jump, triumphing from a standing start. The first Gold medals were awarded at St. Louis, and the 23 German athletes garnered five Gold, five Silver and five Bronze medals. See Josef Eberhardt, Olympiamunzen und Medaillen, von der Antike bis zur Neuzeit, 1980. This Bronze octagonal medal in its unpretentious orange cardboard box is one of the great rarities in a 114-year series and is almost never encountered. A lightly circulated example without a box realized $16,730 in an April 2009 auction. In a higher grade with strong eye appeal, the performance of medal offered here will undoubtedly be more spectacular.


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