RR Auction will offer a 1977 Sapporo Winter Olympic torch in its sale closing on April 12.
It was created by celebrated industrial designer Sori Yanagi and is among the rarest Olympic torches on the market, with only around 100 believed to have been manufactured.
The handle of the Sapporo torch was designed to resemble the Olympic cauldron
While there were well over 16,000 relayers (this was the first Winter Olympics held outside Europe and enthusiasm was high), all shared torches along the route.
The lot is valued at upwards of $30,000.
Torches are iconic pieces of Olympic memorabilia and have a broad collector base.
The record is £420,000 ($529,246), set in 2015 for a 1952 Helsinki Summer Games torch at Graham Budd Auctions in London.
A Berlin 1936 Summer Games torch is also on offer, with a valuation in excess of $4,500.
This Games was held in Nazi Germany and was the first tournament to reintroduce the tradition of transporting the flame from Olympia.
All 3,840 of these torches were produced by weapons and steel manufacturer Krupp.
At the time Krupp was busy building up Germany’s armoury, meaning this torch was manufactured in the same factories as the nation’s devastating weapons of war.
There’s also a Los Angeles 1984 torch featuring its original wick that is expected to sell for more than $2,000.
You can take a look at our excellent range of sports memorabilia for sale here.
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