Business & Tech

Sold! Record $1.46 Million for Jesse Owens 1936 Gold Medal

A Laguna Niguel-based auction company found a billionaire buyer for one of the gold medals won by Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

When Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle agreed to pay $1.46 million for the medal in the auction that closed Dec. 8, he set a new record for the most spent on a piece of olympic memorabilia, according to SCP Auctions.

Owens' four olympic gold medals won in 1936 came as a shock to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

The record price surpassed that of a silver cup won in the first modern-day Olympic marathon in 1896 that sold for $865,000 in April 2012.

Several other auction items fetched big prices in SCP's Fall Premier Auction, including two baseball bats used by Jackie Robinson that sold for $183,500 and $128,617. Over 1,000 items sold for over $4.5 million, the auction house announced.

Check here for a complete list of all the items sold in the most recent auction.

Burkle, who also owns the Nobel Prize for Literature won by William Faulkner in 1949, said he has plans for an educational tour of the historic pieces in the future.


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