一块奥运会奖牌值多少钱？
Priceless? Even Olympic Medals Can Be Had for the Right Price
NEIL VIGDOR
2021年8月3日
A silver medal in shooting from the 1900 Olympics in Paris recently sold for a mere $1,283.
一枚1900年巴黎奥运会的射击银牌最近仅以1283美元的价格拍出。
Then there was a bronze medal from the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, that fetched $3,750.
然后，一枚1956年意大利科蒂纳丹佩佐冬季奥运会的铜牌以3750美元拍出。
But it was a first-place silver medal from the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 — there were no gold medals then — that commanded six figures on the eve of this year’s Games. It sold for $180,111, according to RR Auction, the Boston-based auction house that handled all three sales.
但在今年奥运会前夕，1896年雅典第一届现代奥运会的第一枚银牌——当时没有金牌——拍出了六位数。根据负责这些拍卖的波士顿RR拍卖公司(RR Auction)的数据，这块奖牌以180111美元售出。
Even though their sentimental value may be priceless to the athletes who wear them around their necks, Olympic medals are finding their way to pawn shops and auction blocks from the podium, where collectors are scooping them up like rare coins, comic books and other sports artifacts like baseball cards.
尽管奥运奖牌的情感价值对于把它们戴在脖子上的运动员来说可能是无价的，但它们正从领奖台走向典当行和拍卖场，收藏家们像对待稀有硬币、漫画书和棒球卡等其他体育纪念品一样收购它们。
“It’s a niche collectible,” Bobby Livingston, an executive vice president of RR Auction, which brokered the sale of the three medals and 18 others on July 22, said on Sunday. “The ones that have come to market in recent years, there isn’t a glut of them.”
“这是一种小众收藏品，”RR拍卖公司执行副总裁鲍比·利文斯顿(Bobby Livingston)周日表示。该公司在7月22日促成了这三枚奖牌和其他18枚奖牌的拍卖交易。“近年来进入市场的藏品并不多。”
One doesn’t have to be Caeleb Dressel, the American swimmer who won five gold medals in Tokyo, to collect medals.
要想收集奥运奖牌，你不一定非得成为在东京奥运会上夺得五枚金牌的美国游泳运动员卡莱布·德雷塞尔(Caeleb Dressel)。
Dozens of former Olympians have resorted to selling their medals over the years. Some have cited financial hardships, while others have said that they were motivated by raising money for charity.
多年来，数十名前奥运选手已经开始出售奖牌。有人说是因为经济困难，还有人说是为了慈善筹款。
Bill Russell, the Boston Celtics legend, will put his gold medal from the 1956 Olympics, when he served as captain of the U.S. basketball team, on the auction block this fall.
波士顿凯尔特人队(Boston Celtics)传奇人物比尔·拉塞尔(Bill Russell)将在今年秋天拍卖1956年奥运会上获得的金牌，他当时担任美国篮球队队长。
“I’ve decided to sell most of my collection,” Mr. Russell said in a video on the website of Hunt Auctions, the Exton, Pa., auction house that will handle the sale of his medal, some of his N.B.A. championship rings, a warm-up jacket and other memorabilia.
“我已经决定卖掉我的大部分收藏，”拉塞尔在宾夕法尼亚州埃克斯顿的亨特拍卖行(Hunt Auctions)网站上的一段视频中说。这家拍卖行将负责拍卖他的奖牌、一些NBA总冠军戒指、一件热身外套和其他纪念品。
Mr. Russell says that some of the proceeds will go to MENTOR, a charity that he co-founded that promotes youth mentorship opportunities. A donation will also be made to a social justice initiative created by the Celtics.
拉塞尔说，部分收益将捐给MENTOR，这是他参与创立的一个慈善机构，旨在促进青年获得指导的机会，此外还将向凯尔特人队创建的一项社会正义倡议捐款。
While the names of Olympians are not engraved on medals, names matter, and so do the circumstances associated with athletic feats, auction experts said.
拍卖专家说，虽然奥运选手的名字不会刻在奖牌上，但名字很重要，与运动功绩相关的情况也很重要。
A gold medal won by an unidentified member of the 1984 U.S. basketball team, a roster that included Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin, sold for $83,188 on July 22, RR Auction said.
RR拍卖公司称，7月22日，1984年美国篮球队一名未透露姓名的队员赢得的金牌以83188美元售出，该队成员包括帕特里克·尤因(Patrick Ewing)和克里斯·穆林(Chris Mullin)。
It was a handsome sum, but a mere fraction of the nearly $1.5 million that a collector paid in 2019 for one of the four gold medals that were won by Jesse Owens at the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin. The sale price set a record for a piece of Olympic memorabilia, according to SCP Auctions, the Laguna Niguel, Calif., auction house that handled the sale.
这是一笔可观的金额，但与2019年一位收藏家为杰西·欧文斯(Jesse Owens)在1936年柏林夏季奥运会上赢得的四枚金牌之一支付的近150万美元相比，只能算个零头。据加州拉古纳尼格尔的SCP拍卖行称，这一拍卖价格创下了奥运纪念品的拍卖纪录。
Owens, the Black American track and field athlete, delivered a dominant performance at those games as Hitler watched.
在希特勒的注视下，美国黑人田径运动员欧文斯在那些比赛中取得了耀眼的成绩。
In addition to the origin and ownership history of collectibles like medals, known as provenance, their condition plays an important role in their price, auction experts said. Do they have their original ribbon? Did they come with a case?
拍卖专家说，对于奖牌这样的收藏品来说，除了来源和所有权历史（在拍卖中称为“出处”），其状况对价格也有重要影响。它们附带原来的丝带吗？它们带有匣子吗？
Not all Olympic medals are engraved with the name of the sport for which they were awarded, which auctioneers say can reduce their value if it is unclear.
并非所有的奥运奖牌上都刻有获奖项目的名称，拍卖商说，如果项目不清楚的话，可能会降低它们的价值。
In Tokyo, the gold medals won by the athletes overwhelmingly contain more silver than actual gold, which makes up about 6 grams of the total weight of 556 grams, according to the International Olympic Committee.
根据国际奥委会(International Olympic Committee)的数据，在东京奥运会上，运动员所获的金牌中的银含量远远高于实际的金含量——金牌总重量为556克，其中金含量约为6克。
That works out to be about $800 in gold and silver in those medals, Philip Newman, a founding partner and managing director of Metals Focus, a London-based research firm, said on Sunday.
伦敦研究公司Metals Focus的创始合伙人兼董事总经理菲利普·纽曼(Philip Newman)周日说，这些奖牌的金银价值约为800美元。
“If you’re winning, I think the value is probably irrelevant,” Mr. Newman said. “I’d be surprised if anyone thought they were pure gold.”
“如果你赢了，我认为这个价值可能无关紧要，”纽曼说。“如果有人认为它们是纯金的，我会感到惊讶。”
The silver medals awarded at the Tokyo Games are made from pure silver and weigh 550 grams, which works out to about $450, according to Mr. Newman, who said that bronze medals would be worth significantly less. They contain red brass, which is 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc.
据纽曼说，东京奥运会上颁发的银牌由纯银制成，重550克，约合450美元。他说铜牌的价值要低得多。它们含有红铜，其中95%是铜，5%是锌。
Each medal comes with a wood case and features the five Olympic rings, the official name of the games and Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, on them, a requirement of the I.O.C.
每枚奖牌都配有一个木盒子，上面有奥运五环、奥运会的官方名称和希腊胜利女神尼刻(Nike)，这是国际奥委会的要求。
Some collectors will gladly settle for bronze, Mr. Livingston said.
利文斯顿说，一些收藏者很乐意接受铜牌。
“They’re still Olympic medals,” he said. “Third place is still pretty darned good. As a collector, you can start with bronze if you don’t have a lot of money.”
