Breal's Silver Cup
The silver cup given to Louis at the first modern Olympic Games staged in Athens in 1896, was sold for 541,250 pounds ($860,000) in London on 18 April 2012, breaking the auction record for Olympic memorabilia. Breal's Silver Cup stands just six inches tall and was offered for sale at Christie's by the grandson of the victor.
Christie's called the auction "heated" and involved six bidders. The auctioneer later confirmed the buyer as the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which plans to build a major cultural center in Athens, where the Olympic cup will go on display from 2015. The item was sold on the day Britain marked the 100 days' countdown to the 2012 London Olympics.
Read more about this topic: Spyridon Louis
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Beauty, strength, youth are flowers but fading seen;
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)