This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/5/2022
Featured here is an Olympic bronze winner's medal from the 1948 St. Moritz (Switzerland) Winter Games. Any winner's medal from these important Games is tough to find in the market. It was the first Olympics celebrated after World War II, coming 11-1/2 years after the 1936 Berlin Summer Games. Only 28 nations participated (same number as the previous 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games) with approximately 670 athletes across 22 events in just four sports.
The 3rd place winner's medal is made of pure bronze, measuring 60 mm in diameter, 5 mm thick and weighing 100 grams. Designed by Paul-André Droz, the obverse has the inscription "Vmes JEUX OLYMPIQUES D'HIVER ST. MORITZ 1948" in between two snow crystals. On the reverse is a hand holding a lit torch with the interlocking Olympic rings in the background. Six snow crystals decorate the empty space right and left. Curving round the top is the Olympic motto "CITIUS ALTIUS FORTIUS" (Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger"). Fairly well-preserved with signs of green oxidation (more noticeable on the obverse) mostly from age, the medal presents in near VF condition. Although the recipient and event are unknown (no 1948 gold, silver or bronze medals provided this info), the medal survives as an extraordinary Olympic artifact rarely made available to the collecting public.