Calgary 1988 Winter Olympic torch on auction for $50,000

A torch made for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics could be yours, if you have $50,000 to shell out for the rare memorabilia.

The torch is one of 100 made for the Games and will be available in RR Auction’s Olympic Memorabilia Auction beginning next week. The starting bid is $50,000, making it by far the most expensive torch in the auction, which also includes a torch from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a 1976 Montreal Olympics torch, and a Vancouver 2010 torch, among others.

Standing 23.5 inches in length and featuring an aluminum head with a maple handle, the torch is modeled after the Calgary Tower and inscribed with “XV Olympic Winter Games Calgary Alberta Canada 1988.” It also features pictograms of 10 winter Olympic sports and engraved with the Olympic motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius.”

The torch up for grabs has never been used and still has its four original wicks.

“The torch relay was an enormous event, with approximately 6,500 torchbearers drawn from an application pool of over six million,” said the auction description. “After the lighting ceremony in Olympia, the flame was flown to Newfoundland. The torch traveled 18,000 km through Canada over 88 days. Unlike many relays, the torches were shared and thus only about one hundred were manufactured. This is a marvelous example of the utmost rarity.”

Will you be bidding on the torch?

Image: RR Auction