Historic Owens Medal to be Auctioned

Published by ESPN on November 8, 2013

One of the most famous Olympic medals is hitting the auction block.

SCP Auctions president David Kohler says his company has acquired one of the four gold medals won by Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and will sell it to the highest bidder on Dec. 7.

"If you could dream up items that you'd want to find and sell, this would be on the bucket list," Kohler said.

Kohler believes the medal could sell for more than $1 million, especially since he said the Owens family is unclear about the whereabouts of the other three gold medals.

"We think this a seven-figure piece," Kohler said. "We expect to see a good deal of international interest and could see some institutions bidding. This is so much bigger than a piece of sports memorabilia. It's a piece of history."

The highest price ever paid for a piece of Olympic memorabilia was the $865,000 paid last April for a silver cup won by the winner of the first modern-day Olympic marathon in 1896. The highest price paid for U.S. Olympic items include the gold medal won by Mark Wells from the 1980 Olympic ice hockey team, sold for $310,700 in 2010, and the jersey from the famous "Miracle on Ice" game worn by team captain Mike Eruzione, which sold for $657,250 in February.