One hundred years after it was awarded, a rare first-place Olympic medal from the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris has been certified by Numismatic Guaranty Company.
NGC says the medal was submitted for certification during the recently concluded summer games that were also held in Paris.
The medal will be displayed at Fanatics Fest NYC, being held at the Javits Center in New York City on August 16-18. It will be showcased at Booth #2225, which is operated by Certified Guaranty Company (CGC), an affiliate of NGC that grades sports cards and other pop culture collectibles.
NGC authenticated the first-place medal, graded it NGC MS 65 and encapsulated it in an NGC Oversize Holder, which accommodates its large diameter of 55 mm.
The medal is silver with a coating of gold, as are the current Olympic first-place medals that are commonly referred to as “gold.”
The medal was on the market earlier this year, realizing $46,279 at RR Auction before being turned over to the authentication company.
Designed by Andre Rivaud, the obverse of the medal shows a victorious athlete extending a hand to a fallen competitor. The scene is placed above the now-famous Olympic rings, which had been in use for about a decade and were first included on Olympic medals in 1924. The reverse shows sporting equipment and a harp, echoing hopes for peace following the devastation of World War I on Europe.
NGC has certified a variety of Olympic medals over the years, including:
- a Greece 1870 Zappas Olympics Gold Victor’s Award graded NGC SP 63 that realized $150,000 at a Heritage Auctions sale in May 2022
- a Greece 1896-dated 1st Modern Olympics Silver Medal graded NGC UNC Details that realized €40,000 (about $48,400) at a sale presented by A. Karamitsos in April 2021
- a Germany 1936 Berlin Olympics Gilt Silver 1st Prize Medal graded NGC MS 61, which was certified by NGC after it realized $44,400 in a Heritage Auctions sale in February 2020
The company has also certified numerous non-sports related medals including a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, a Congressional Gold Medal awarded to President Harrison and a Gold Robbins Medal that Neil Armstrong took along on the historic Apollo 11 moon mission, which realized more than $2 million at a Heritage Auctions sale in 2019.
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