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≡ WORLD OLYMPIC COLLECTORS ≡
You never know when a rare piece of Olympic history will come through the door at a World Olympic Collector’s Fair. On Saturday, a 1904 St. Louis bronze winner’s medal for tug-of-war appeared at the 28th edition of the festival in Prague and was promptly whisked away to the United States. It will be offered in the RR Auction Olympic sale that will close on 17 July, with an estimate of $25,000.
Bobby Eaton, Chief Operating Officer for RR Auction, was already in contact with the consignor, who is from Slovakia. Eaton said the medal, which unfortunately does not have the ribbon or bar originally attached to it, was purchased from a European collectors website. He surmised that it was won by Franz Kugler, the sole German on the five-man St. Louis Southwest Turnverein team no. 2, which secured the bronze medal. The no. 1 St. Louis team took the silver behind the Milwaukee Athletic Club.
According to the Olympedia.org, Kugler was born in Germany, worked as a brewer in St. Louis and did not speak English at the time of the 1904 Games. He also won two bronze medals in weightlifting (unlimited two hands and all-around dumbbell contest) and a silver in wrestling (heavyweight freestyle), making him the only man to win medals in three different sports at one Olympic Games.
The fair, held at the aptly named Olympic Congress Centre, attracted 66 table holders from 19 countries, with 14 U.S. collectors booking one or more tables. The others hailed from Canada, China, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Other top-of-the-line items included Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic torches and a complete set of gold, silver and bronze Munich 1972 medals. Frank Neubauer of Germany said the gold was from the controversial men’s basketball final won by the Soviet Union over the United States and carried an $18,000 asking price. The U.S. players have never claimed their silver medals.
Stephane Hatot of France amassed a lot of material from the post-Olympic sales by Paris 2024 organizers. He brought a wide assortment of memorabilia including torches – which once fetched $40,000 but have dropped to less than half that as more come on the market. Hatot also had original medal boxes, signs (such as one for Bercy Arena), special mascots awarded to the medalists and even the Paris logo “mic flags” and foam microphone covers.
Stratos Klimou from Greece brought three hand-painted Olympic flame-carrying vessels from 2020 Tokyo, 2022 Beijing and 2024 Paris. Fewer than 20 were made of each and they are worth $3,000-$5,000 apiece. He also had the cups given to VIPs at the flame-lighting ceremony.
And, of course, there were pins, pins and more pins.
Activity was brisk with an estimated 200-300 people perusing the offerings Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the table holders mostly traded with each other to finalize last-minute deals.
International members of the Olympin Collector’s Club received their special-issue 2025 and 2026 pins, both themed for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
In addition to the fair, the Czech Olympic Academy and the Czech Pierre de Coubertin Committee hosted a seminar on the 100th Anniversary of the Olympic Congress in Prague. Fair attendees could also attend a cultural event at the Tyrs House and cruise on the Vltava River.
A long line of autograph seekers waited patiently Saturday to meet Czech stars David Svoboda, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in modern pentathlon, and Pavel Benc, a member of the bronze-medal winning 4 x 10 km cross country relay team at Calgary 1988 and a four-time Czech Olympian.
The next World’s Olympic Collector’s Fair has been awarded to Colorado Springs, Colorado, from 22-24 May 2026. Organizers talked to collectors in Prague to assess interest, with some long-time fair attendees saying they intended to stay home based on the current political climate, expense of coming to the United States and fear of bringing items that might have trouble clearing customs.
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