Olympic document sets sports memorabilia auction record, selling for $8.8 million
Record ID:
1449137
Olympic document sets sports memorabilia auction record, selling for $8.8 million
- Title: Olympic document sets sports memorabilia auction record, selling for $8.8 million
- Date: 19th December 2019
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - DECEMBER 13, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIRST THREE PAGES FROM THE ORIGINAL OLYMPIC GAMES MANIFESTO VARIOUS OF RICHARD AUSTIN, SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK HEAD TO BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS PLACING PAGES IN PLASTIC COVER SIGN READING 'FINE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS' AND PAGES ON DISPLAY / PAGES ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK HEAD TO BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS RICHARD AUSTIN, SAYING: "It is basically the handwritten manuscript and we have three pages of the 14 behind me here. It's the foundation of the modern Olympic Games. It is Pierre de Coubertin's original handwritten manuscript that calls for the establishment of a modern Olympics. So really what we all enjoy every four years is a direct result of the manuscript behind me." MANUSCRIPT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK HEAD TO BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS RICHARD AUSTIN, SAYING: "He wanted something that all nations could take part in, a way compete against one another, but not in the way that we usually compete against one another, which is going to war. So he actually saw the Olympic Games, the reestablishment of them as a way to promote peace among nations." VARIOUS OF MANUSCRIPT EXTERIOR OF SOTHEBY'S AUCTION HOUSE
- Embargoed: 2nd January 2020 18:03
- Keywords: Olympic games Pierre de Coubertin Richard Austin Stoheby's auction auction record books and manuscripts
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001BAN89C7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:A piece of Olympic history set a new auction world record at Sotheby's in New York on Wednesday (December 18) when the original Olympic Games manifesto sold for a whopping $8.8 million (USD).
Sotheby's said the sale set a new world record for sports memorabilia. The final price was also nearly nine times higher than the manuscript's pre-sale estimate of $1 million.
The 127-year-old artifact outlines the very foundation of the modern Olympic Games.
The document, penned in French by International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin in 1892, outlines the rationale for resurrecting the ancient Greek Games and advocates for athletic pursuit outside the parameters of military training.
"He wanted something that all nations could take part in, a way compete against one another, but not in the way that we usually compete against one another, which is going to war. So he actually saw the Olympic Games, the reestablishment of them as a way to promote peace among nations," Richard Austin, head of Sotheby's Books & Manuscripts Department in New York, told Reuters during a media preview last week.
Each of the manifesto's fragile 14 notepaper pages is stored inside a Mylar sleeve, with Coubertin's scribbled edits and crossed out phrases displaying the historical backdrop against which the Games were conceived.
Four years after drafting the manifesto, the modern Games debuted in Athens, Greece.
Next year, athletes around the world will participate in the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
(Production: Angela Moore) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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