The Olympics are upon us again! With the games come the many collectors and collections that are shared by collectors from all over the globe. Pins, posters, mugs, jackets, you name it; if the Olympic rings are on it, someone is going to collect it. One of the more challenging collections to complete however is that of the Olympic torches. It is said that there are only two people in the world that have all 37 torches. The collecting of torches is a very expensive hobby.
Lucky Burke, a 66 year old CEO of a Houston flooring company, owns 32 torches. Burke loves his collection and claims he will never sell it. His rarest torch is from the 1992 Albertville Winter Games. Price tag? $70,000.
“I’ve got one of the largest vintage collections of sports cards and uniforms around, but when people come to see my memorabilia, they gravitate towards my torches,” he said. “They transcend age and politics. Young people don’t always know who older baseball players are, but they all know about the Olympics.”
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Burke won’t reveal the total value of his collection, but says the most significant torches aren’t necessarily the most expensive one. For him it is about the backstory. For example, Burke’s 1964 Tokyo torch is his favourite because Yoshinori Sakai, who was born in Hiroshima on the day the atomic bomb was dropped and is known as the ‘Hiroshima Baby,’ lit the Olympic flame that year to represent the renewal of Japan.
Torches vary in monetary value due to a few factors. The more the recent the games, the easier to track down torches so these will usually run anywhere from $1500 – $70,000. The number of torches created, whether it’s a Summer Games or Winter Games torch and the story behind it all influence the final value and sale price. The more challenging torches to find have sold for as high as $880,000.
It is estimated that the world’s two complete existing collections of Olympic torches are valued in the low millions up to $5 million.