Olympic memorabilia or art piece?

gravityrules

Full Member
Feb 20, 2012
143
161
TX
Detector(s) used
Whites M6, Fisher F5, Fisher 1265-X, Teknetics T2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You just never know what will turn up at a garage sale!

So I spot this obviously well made vase in the original box but I thought the asking price was a bit high ... told my son about it and we came back by in the afternoon and it was still there so he buys it for considerably less than the original price. Although he expects to make some on the re-sell, the real fun was figuring out the 'back story' for the vase.

The vase is marked "Olympia Award Series I 27/330" on the bottom. What I can remember of the seller's story (lesson for me, pay closer attention to any info a seller provides, they may be some valuable clues) is that she worked for Southland Corporation several years ago, this was found and given to her after the company had moved to different facilities. She thought it had something to do with the Olympics.

Here's the information that I was able to figure out from various internet references:

"The Olympia Award" was commissioned by The Southland Corporation (parent company of 7 Eleven, headquartered in Dallas, Texas) in 1982 and sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic Committee to be presented to athletes in the 31 summer and winter Olympic sports who excel in athletics, leadership and scholarship.

I don't know how many were actually presented but I found news accounts from 1982 to 1985 of at least 25 presentations made to U.S. Olympic athletes, including familiar names like Mary Lou Retton and Greg Lougainis.




The award is a 16" tall limited edition amphora or vase, and is said to be a reproduction of a 523 BC Greek Panathenaic amphora. Panathenaic amphoras were given to the victors in the ancient Greek competitions. I can't say if the figures on this amphora are the exact representation of a single ancient Greek Panathenaic amphora, but the amphora faithfully reproduces the form and subject matter in the black figure technique of the originals. There are 5 activities represented on the vase as well as Athena.



This amphora was produced by Dan Hammett in his private studio "Handcrafted Ceramics" and is numbered 27 of 330. Dan has been a Professor of Ceramics at the University of Dallas since 1974 and he is regarded as a master of ceramics and has mentored many artists in this medium.


I think this piece is hand thrown. It has an oak display base and the original box

I don't know if this was actually awarded to an athlete or if this vase was an 'extra' after the Olympia Award program was ended.

From a 'local history' perspective this has a strong tie to Dallas, Texas as both the sponsoring company and the creator are from the area.



Do you think this has more interest or value as an art piece or as an Olympic award?
 

Attachments

  • SAM_1529.JPG
    SAM_1529.JPG
    430.3 KB · Views: 194
  • SAM_1533.JPG
    SAM_1533.JPG
    349.7 KB · Views: 184
  • SAM_1536.JPG
    SAM_1536.JPG
    586.6 KB · Views: 194
  • SAM_1528.JPG
    SAM_1528.JPG
    605.3 KB · Views: 177
  • SAM_1527.JPG
    SAM_1527.JPG
    346.7 KB · Views: 146
Last edited:

Beans

Bronze Member
May 31, 2008
1,476
945
Oklahoma
Detector(s) used
Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Looks like they could not decide what to put - Olympia or Olympic - looks like the A was a after thought. Great vase, you have at least to markets -Art and Olympics.
 

JimDon

Silver Member
May 6, 2009
4,040
5,277
NC USA
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
5
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac, Minelab Excalibur, White's MXT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That A is troublesome. That being said I think it's worth more as an Art piece.
 

OP
OP
G

gravityrules

Full Member
Feb 20, 2012
143
161
TX
Detector(s) used
Whites M6, Fisher F5, Fisher 1265-X, Teknetics T2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I did find a description and picture of the Olympia vase awarded to Greg Lougainis in a 2010 Heritage auction catalog. It was in a collection of his Olympic memorabilia.
No doubt this one is the same Olympia vase design. Perhaps the misplaced 'A' explains why this particular vase, which is a low issue number, was still at Southland Corp years after the program ended rather than being in an Olympic athlete's trophy case. I think it's highly likely that way less than 330 of these were made since the program only ran for a few years and they were apparently hand made in a boutique studio.
 

Last edited:

diggummup

Gold Member
Jul 15, 2004
17,815
10,120
Somewhere in the woods
Detector(s) used
Whites M6
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Done on commission by Dan Hammett. Here read this- University of Dallas - Dan Hammett[FONT=CrimsonRoman, Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif] [/FONT] "The Olympia Award" was a limited edition of a 523 B.C. Greek Replica Amphorae for the 1982 Olympic Gold Medalist of the United States of America.
 

OP
OP
G

gravityrules

Full Member
Feb 20, 2012
143
161
TX
Detector(s) used
Whites M6, Fisher F5, Fisher 1265-X, Teknetics T2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yes I found that reference and it is somewhat misleading. It wasn't awarded on the basis of winning a gold medal in the Olympics (although some of the recipients had won or did win medals of some kind, and perhaps the first one was awarded to a gold medalist), the official Sponsor's statement was "to be presented to athletes in the 31 summer and winter Olympic sports who excel in athletics, leadership and scholarship. "

Professor Hammett still teaches at the University of Dallas (which is actually in Irving). His work has been featured in several art gallery shows and you can find those references repeating word for word the description of the Olympia award found in the bio.

 

diggummup

Gold Member
Jul 15, 2004
17,815
10,120
Somewhere in the woods
Detector(s) used
Whites M6
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My apologies. I guess I should have actually read your post first. I think it would have more interest as an award versus an art piece. It is both however. Email Prof. Hammett and ask him about the misplaced A, maybe he can shed some light. Maybe that is why it never left the building so to speak.
 

dejapooh

Bronze Member
Nov 14, 2012
1,485
1,083
Thousand Oaks, CA
Primary Interest:
Other
If I were you, I would contact Ingrid O'neil ([email protected]), or Richard Murray (Contact Us | Gold Medal Collectibles) Tell them Dan Presburger sent you. You may get quite a bit more than you are asking (if it slipped through the cracks). I would even consider ending the auction early (you have 3 watchers who may be hoping to snipe the vase). They both run auctions with international followings. Ingrid is the top tier seller of Olympic stuff (gold medals, torches, so on). I know that Ingrid and Richard both BUY rare Olympic stuff, and they sell on consignment through their auction catalog. Ingrid keeps all of her old catalogs available online. They are a great resource if you find a rare Olympic item.

I believe it is a surplus award given. They may have been made available to the public or to employees after the awards. Southland corp (They own and run the 7/11 franchise group) was a sponsor and supplier to the 1984 games in Los Angeles (go LA24).
 

OP
OP
G

gravityrules

Full Member
Feb 20, 2012
143
161
TX
Detector(s) used
Whites M6, Fisher F5, Fisher 1265-X, Teknetics T2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for the contacts! My question has been answered, it's value is greater as an Olympic piece. It's headed for Ingrid's auction catalog.
 

Last edited:

dejapooh

Bronze Member
Nov 14, 2012
1,485
1,083
Thousand Oaks, CA
Primary Interest:
Other
I spoke with Richard Murray last night. He received an offer on an Olympic Torch I was selling.

I mentioned this, you should get in touch with him. He is interested and he is putting together another auction as we speak.
 

dejapooh

Bronze Member
Nov 14, 2012
1,485
1,083
Thousand Oaks, CA
Primary Interest:
Other
From Ingrid O'neil's Auction Catalog,

The Southland Olympia Award – an Ancient Greek-Style Vase
Presented between 1982 and 1985 to U.S. Gold Medal winners.
Black, orange and white, ceramic, 40.6cm (16”), produced by Dan
Hammet in his studio “Handcrafted Ceramics”, numbered 27. Similar
to an ancient Greek Panathenaic amphora given to winners in these
Athens competitions. Shown are wrestling, discus, javelin, long
jump, a torchrunner, and Athena.
The awards were created for the 1984
Los Angeles gold medal winners. The awards were presented to supporters
and previous U.S. Olympic gold medal winners as Bob Mathias and Rafer
Johnson, later to Greg Louganis and Mary Lou Retton.
On a hand carved
oak display base, housed in its original box. EF.
($1,250)

http://www.ioneil.com/site/auction/a76/a76_catalog49-52.pdf
Did not sell, but that's not uncommon... I've put things in auctions and let them ride from sale to sale until they did sell.
 

OP
OP
G

gravityrules

Full Member
Feb 20, 2012
143
161
TX
Detector(s) used
Whites M6, Fisher F5, Fisher 1265-X, Teknetics T2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
We are still in the post-auction time period when items are available for purchase at the listed price. If it still hasn't sold, it will go to her next auction.
This is a bit different type of auction, it looks like maybe 50% of the cataloged items sell by the end of the auction. I would guess that is true for specialized auctions in general. I think a significant percentage of the collectible cars brought to the well known auctions don't sell because they don't meet the reserve price.
 

dejapooh

Bronze Member
Nov 14, 2012
1,485
1,083
Thousand Oaks, CA
Primary Interest:
Other
Yes, Typical of her auctions. Pretty low sell through, but most everything sells eventually. She will not accept a bit less than 80% of the estimate (I think), so that enters into it.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top