TRADE IN OLYMPIC MEMORABILIA IS GATHERING PACE | May 11th 2008

The Beijing Olympics will be swarming with commemorative souvenirs. Barney Southin identifies a few worthy investments--and reveals why this ornate relay torch isn't one of them ...

From ECONOMIST.COM*

Shaped like a paper scroll and patterned with swirling "lucky" clouds, the metal relay torch for the Beijing Olympics could not be more different from those carried in an ancient Greek lampadedromia (torch race). Officially it embodies a lot of high-minded notions: Olympism, Chinese cultural and technical prowess, harmony, environmental awareness and so on.

But its eye-catching design (pictured above) is also a tacit acknowledgment that Olympic torches have a life beyond the relay, and that some will end up in museums and private collections. As the Beijing games approach, the trade in these and other kinds of Olympic memorabilia is picking up.

Topping the wish lists of many collectors is an Olympic medal. Those awarded to participating athletes, or given to officials and volunteers, are easy to find and rarely cost more than a few hundred pounds. But medals awarded to winners command much higher prices. One of these, a silver medal for small-bore rifle shooting from the 1908 London games, will be auctioned by Dix Noonan Webb on June 20th. Estimated at £1,500 ($3,000), it represents the cheaper end of the market.

Medals connected to a popular athlete or a piece of sporting history can sell for tens of thousands of pounds. Ingrid O'Neil, one of a small band of dealers who specialise in Olympic memorabilia, cites a gold medal for rope-climbing from the 1904 St Louis games that fetched $49,301 at auction in April 2006. That medal was made of solid gold. Victors in Beijing will not be so lucky: their medals will be gilded with just six grams of the stuff.

Other collectors specialise in relay torches, a feature of the Olympics since the Berlin games in 1936. Most were produced in large quantities and thus do not sell for more than a few thousand pounds each. Bonhams is auctioning a rather elegant-looking torch from the 1948 London games (Lot 70, estimate £2,000-2,500) in Chester on June 4th. So too is Ms O'Neil--along with torches used at the games in Berlin, Mexico City, Barcelona, Sarajevo, Moscow and elsewhere. Prices in her online auction catalogue range from $2,000 to $7,500.

Torches for the winter games, which for various reasons were created in smaller quantities, tend to sell for more. But by far the most sought after are those created for the summer games in Helsinki in 1952. Just 22 were made , of which 15 were fashioned from sterling silver and seven of silver-coated brass. The whereabouts of only eight of the sterling silver torches is known, lending the "missing" torches a certain mystique. According to Ms O'Neil, who has been dealing in Olympic memorabilia since 1980, a Helsinki torch changed hands in a private auction in December 2006 for €119,000 ($185,000).

Other kinds of Olympic memorabilia can also fetch high prices. The swapping of commemorative pins has long been an integral part of the games; many collectors say this is how they began. Though pins have a low intrinsic value, the appearance of rare examples on the open market have led to fierce bidding. Mrs O'Neil gives the example of a doctor's badge (a badge is a large pin) from the 1908 London games that fetched $16,669 at auction in April 2006.

Commemorative stamps, coins and posters are also eagerly pursued, as are books, tickets, programmes, photographs and uniforms and pretty much anything to do with the games. One of the most treasured pieces of modern Olympic memorabilia (and arguably the first) is the dinner menu from the International Olympic Committee's meeting at the Royal Palace in Athens in March 1896. It reveals those attending tucked into fish with Dekelia wine sauce, noisettes of fresh meat à la Pompadour and ice-cream, washed down with Leoville 1870, port and Madeira.

So what to bring back from Beijing? It sounds a good bet, but a relay torch is a bad idea. They may look pretty but over 20,000 have been made (as well as thousands of smaller imitation ones), more than at any previous games. True, one of them fetched $6,300 when auctioned on eBay in early April. Yet the high price owed to an artificial scarcity: Beijing's organisers have not been letting all torch-bearers keep their torches. Dealers in Olympic memorabilia foresee a post-games torch glut.

Also stay clear of Olympic stamps, advises Bob Wilcock of the Society of Olympic Collectors. China's fragmented postal system and the countless "bandwagon" stamps issued by other countries mean there are simply too many to collect. It is a far cry from 1896, when just one commemorative set of stamp designs was issued to help pay for the Olympic sites.

Event tickets and programmes are probably a better bet, or better still begin collecting memorabilia from the London games of 1908 and 1948, ahead of 2012. Best of all though would be a winner's medal. But as any athlete will tell you, getting hold of one is a lifetime's work.

(*Barney Southin is deputy editor of Economist.com)