Olympic Winter Games / Cortina d'Ampezzo / 1956 - Lot 209

Lot 209
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13000 - 15000 EUR
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Olympic Winter Games / Cortina d'Ampezzo / 1956 - Lot 209
Olympic Winter Games / Cortina d'Ampezzo / 1956 Official torch of the 7th Cortina Winter Games 1956 Aluminum, wick on burner preserved (rare), traces of wax Based on Ralph LAVERS' design for the 1948 London Games, which was also the model for the Melbourne 1956 and Lake Placid 1960 torches. On the bottom of the circular hearth (diam. 14 cm), triple cut-out of the 5 rings and inscription "VII Giochi Invernali Cortina 1956". Traces of coloring on a set of rings, slight indentation on the crown (proof of the life of this exceptional piece), a few scratches. Height: 41 cm This torch exists in less than 20 copies, and is the second Winter Games torch after that of 1952. It took on an even more exceptional dimension after the success of the last Winter Games, again in Cortina 70 years later. Yet this classic torch is the symbol of a revolutionary Games. Behind it lie several essential firsts: the first Eurovision television broadcast, the first Olympic oath taken by a woman, the festive closing parade, the arrival of the USSR (with a record 16 medals), and the first women's cross-country skiing events. On January 26, 1956, speed skater Guido Caroli lit the cauldron at the end of the relay between Rome and Venice, and ski champion Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo (1931-2020) took the Olympic oath. The other great figures of the Games were the phenomenal Austrian Alpine skier Toni Sailer, bobsledder Eugènio Monti and American skater Tenley Albright.
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