For the first time in France, an Olympic torch used during the Paris 2024 torch relay is being auctioned. Presented on Monday November 25, 2024 in Caen, it will be sold at the beginning of December in Paris, where the stake could rise to more than 25,000 euros.
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It is an emblematic relic of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and it commands a high price today. The metal torch was relayed throughout France for more than three months.
In total, 11,000 privileged bearers carried the flame until the burning of the hot air basin in the Tuilerie garden by Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner during the opening ceremony orchestrated by Thomas Jolly.
Ahead of the Olympics, 2,000 copies of the torch were partly manufactured in Villedieu-les-Poêles to carry out this grand tour of France of towns and departments. This Monday, November 25, one of them will be presented in Caen with a view to an auction which will be held on December 4, 5 and 6 in Paris.
For the first time in France, the auctioneers Beaussant Lefèvre and associates are putting a torch from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games up for sale.
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© Beaussant Lefèvre and associates
“The person who received this torch after its relay has no use for itexplains Arthur de Moras, auctioneer at Beaussant Lefèvre and associates. She prefers to present it on the art market and please a passionate collector.“
And undoubtedly also to his bank account, because according to the estimates of the expert Jean-Christophe Palthey, the object could be sold between 20 and 25,000 euros.
The first torch we sold was that of the Grenoble 68 Olympics. It went for 210,000 euros! Since then, this market has developed well.
Jean-Christophe Palthey, expert in phaleristique
“It’s an unusual object. The material itself has no interest but what makes it valuable is the design and everything it symbolizes.he explains. To give the price, I based myself on that of the Alberville torches in 1992, again made by a famous designer (Philippe Stark, Editor’s note). It’s a relatively high price, not as much as Grenoble 1968 or Helsinki 1952, but more than Beijing 2008.”
The resale market for Olympic torches has recently developed.
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© JEAN FRAN?OIS OTTONELLO / MAXPPP
What is the difference between estimates and sales prices? “Beauty and rarity“, analyzes the specialist. For the Grenoble Games, only 33 copies of the torch were made, hence its exorbitant selling price. That of Rio 2016, produced in 15,000 units, sells for between 1,000 and 5,000 euros. That of Tokyo 2020 between 5 and 10,000 euros. In London, the organizers had 30,000 copies produced!
For ecological and financial considerations, Paris 2024 has therefore decided to publish much less. “If this sale makes a big price, it is possible that those who have the privilege of having a torch in their home will start to think about a possible resale“, comments Jean-Christophe Palthey.
Proof of the strong interest around the Parisian Olympic torch, one of them has already been presented at auction, even before the start of the events. Estimated at $35,000, it was sold for $44,549.
