Before the 1992 Olympics are filed away in the memory bank, one task remains: sifting through the potential collectibles.
If you were lucky enough to go to Barcelona, don`t toss your program, your ticket stubs or even an errant shoelace, says Mike Wood, of Broadway Rick`s Sports Zone in Boynton Beach, Fla., which does a brisk business with amateur sports. ”There are people who are strictly Olympics collectors. . . . It is very hot.”
The older Olympics souvenirs are worth more, of course, and the 1936 games in Berlin-where Adolf Hitler mocked American black athletes, including runner Jesse Owens-are among the most valuable.
So is anything from Munich in 1972, when Israeli athletes were massacred by Palestinian terrorists. ”Any historical connection gives it an edge,”
says Wood.
Even relatively recent Olympics can fetch high prices, if the item is right. He expects Florence Griffith-Joyner`s track uniform, worn just four years ago in Seoul, to generate the most interest at an auction Aug. 26, sponsored by Broadway Rick`s.
”We expect it to go for anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000.” (Phone bids will be accepted; call 800-344-9103 for details).
How about Dream Team stuff? According to Dan Ceniceros, an Olympics expert in Los Angeles, uniforms will go in the $1,500-$2,000 range, ”but up to $8,000 if it belongs to Larry Bird, Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson . . . than you`re talking serious money.”
