gotosy Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Olympic memorabilia goes under the hammer The winner's cup from the first Olympic marathon at the Athens 1896 Games is to go on sale at Christie's in London as part of an Olympic memorabilia auction. The Breal's Silver Cup, presented to Greek Spyridon (Spyros) Louis, is expected to reach between £120,000 and £160,000 on 18 April. The 15cm cup is being sold off by the runner's grandson alongside Olympic posters and relay torches. The cup is named after Frenchman Michel Bréal, the man behind the race. He was inspired to stage the contest by the legend of the messenger Pheidippides, a herald in ancient Greece, who ran 25 miles from a battlefield near Marathon to Athens when the Greeks claimed victory over Persia in 490BC. Heritage trophy Ten out of 17 competitors finished the first modern Olympic marathon race in April 1896, one having taken a carriage part of the way. Louis finished in the Panathenaic stadium in under three hours and was presented with the cup, a medal, a vase, an olive branch and a diploma. Louis won a medal for Greece, and the cup, in the marathon The Christie's sale will also include eight Olympic relay torches, including one from the first torch relay to Berlin 1936. Olympic advertising posters from the first London Games through to the 1960s will also be on sale. Spyros Louis (junior) said: "Our family has been very proud to have the honour of looking after this important historical sporting trophy for the last 116 years and my grandfather's achievement of winning the first ever marathon, at the first modern Olympic Games, will remain part of my family's heritage forever. "It is time to look to the future - I have two children, and the most important thing for me is to ensure that they are looked after as well as possible." The 179 lots in the whole sale are expected to fetch more than £700,000, Christie's said. BBC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 The cup is named after Frenchman Michel Bréal, the man behind the race. Breal also supposedly designed the cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotosy Posted April 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 Olympic 1896 marathon winner's cup sold for nearly £550,000 The winner's cup from the first Olympic marathon at the Athens 1896 Games has been sold for almost £550,000 as part of an Olympic memorabilia auction. The Breal's Silver Cup, presented to Greek Spyridon (Spyros) Louis, went on sale at Christie's in London. The 15cm cup was expected to fetch up to £160,000 when it was sold off by the runner's grandson - but it was bought by an anonymous bidder for £541,250. .... read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17758160 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrek201 Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Olympic 1896 marathon winner's cup sold for nearly £550,000 it was bought by an anonymous bidder for £541,250. .... read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17758160 No, The buyer is known. It is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (which generally does charity work) but per the report, raised enough extra money so that the Cup could stay in Greece. I wonder what happened to those other ancient Olympic artifacts stolen in February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotosy Posted August 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Marathon Cup of 1st Modern Olympics on Display in Greece The silver cup awarded to the Greek winner of marathon in the first modern Olympic Games was put on display for first time on Tuesday at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. "Greece today runs a new marathon, ... We will win it," Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said as he inaugurate the exhibition that is aimed to inspire Greeks to win the current marathon of the debt crisis. Spyros Louis, a poor water carrier from Athens, had won the tough race from Marathon to Athens in 1896, following in the steps of Pheidippides, the soldier who first ran the course from the battle field to the city to inform Athenians of Greeks' victory over the Persian invaders about 2,500 years ago. According to legends, Pheidippides died once he had fulfilled his mission. Louis lived to become a national hero and left the trophy to his family who was forced to sell it this year due to the acute financial crisis that has hit the economy and the average Greek household since late 2009. Greek Stavros Niarchos Foundation bought the cup at a Christie's auction in London for over half a million pounds (about 791,000 U.S. dollars), and pledged to put it on display for the public until the construction of a new arts centre in Athens completes in three years. http://english.cri.c...2941s719303.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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