This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/15/2019
This torch hails from the 1968 Summer Olympics relay that brought the flame to Mexico City. There are five different variations, and this is the 'Type A' version. The relay began on August 23, 1968, in Olympia, Greece, and retraced the route taken by Christopher Columbus to discover the New World, traveling through his birthplace in Genoa as well as where he initially set sail from Palos in Spain to the first land he reached in San Salvador. In all, the flame traveled 13,620 km over 25 days through the hands of 2,778 torchbearers before arriving at Olympic Stadium, where Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo of Mexico became the first woman to ever light the Olympic cauldron.
Constructed of silver aluminum with a wooden handle, the torch measures approximately 21" in length and 4″ in diameter at the mouth. The upper metal ring features a pattern of six doves. It appears to have been used in the relay based on signs of combustion in the interior burner/holder, but still presents in great shape overall with no condition issues. These 'Type A' torches were used during the Mexico route of the relay. An iconic memento from the Games that delivered perhaps the most important Civil Rights demonstration in sports history: the famous Black Power Salute by African-American 200m medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos.