The countdown is on for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, and the hype is starting to intensify. And an Olympic medal from 1896 just fetched nearly $112,000 at auction.
The silver medal was made for the first modern Olympic Games, which were held in Athens in the summer of 1896. At the time, and for the next 8 years, winners in each sport were awarded silver medals instead of gold ones like we have become accustomed to, while second-place winners received bronze medals. Third-place finishers didn't receive a medal at all.
Designed by French sculptor Jules-Clément Chaplain, the nearly 130-year-old silver medal features a relief portrait of Zeus holding the goddess of victory, Nike, in his palm, with the word 'Olympia' running along the left side. The other side depicts the Acropolis in Athens, with the phrase 'International Olympic Games in Athens, 1896' written in raised Greek characters.
RR Auction, based in Boston, Mass., also sold a bronze (runner's up) medal from the same games for $55,000. Chaplain designed the bronze medals too.
Whilst the first modern Olympics were staged in 1896, the first games were held all the way back in 776 B.C.E. The ancient Olympics were held in Olympia, Greece, for more than 1,000 years until Emperor Theodosius I banned them in 393 C.E. because he considered the Olympics a form of pagan celebration.
The Olympics returned in 1896, and were fittingly held in Athens, but the practice of awarding winners with gold medals, runners-up with silver medals and third-place finishers with bronze medals didn’t begin until 1904.