First Class Award for the Zappas Olympics
Precursor to the Modern Olympics

Triton XIX, Lot: 2754. Estimate $20000. Sold for $45000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Zappas Oympics, Athens. 1875. AV Medal (42mm, 58.65 g, 12h). Victor’s Award, Class A. Paris mint. Albert Désiré Barre (1818-1878), engraver. Dated 1875 (in Greek alphanumerals) . ΓEOPΓIOΣ AI BAΣILEYΣ TΩN EΛΛHNΩN (George the First, King of the Hellenes), head right; BARRE below / OΛYMΠIA/AΘHNHΣI/AΩ´O´E´./TAΞEΩΣ/A´. (Olympics/at Athens/1875/First Class) in five lines; AΓΩNOΩΘETHΣ EYAΓΓEΛHΣ ZAΠΠAΣ (Organizer of the Games, Evangelis Zappas) above; all within olive and laurel wreath. Edge: (bee) OR. Gadoury & Vescovi 2; see Chaponnière & Firmenich 5, lot 528 (for a Class B in gold); cf. Forrer I, pp. 50-1 (for Barre’s succession to the office of graveur général of the Paris mint in 1855). VF, numerous contact marks, mount removed. Extremely rare, one of ten produced and awarded.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Douramakos “OLYMPIAKA” (7 December 2013), lot 12.

The Zappas Oympics (Greek Ζάππειες Ολυμπιάδες), known simply as the Olympics (Ολύμπια), was a series of athletic events held at Athens, the purpose of which was to reintroduce a modern version of the ancient games into the nation of Greece. Sponsored by Evangelis Zappas (1800-1865), a Greek patriot, businessman, and philanthropist, who was inspired by the Greek nineteenth-century romantic, Panagiotis Soutsos. The first of these games were held in 1859 while Zappas was still living, while the other three – 1870, 1875, and 1888 – were held posthumously in his honor. The contribution of Zappas to these games was critical: not only was it at his initiative that the Games were hosted in Greece, but he also provided the funds for staging them and creating the infrastructure for their operation. This included the construction of the Panathenaic Stadium (Παναθηναϊκό στάδιο), which was essentially a modern reconstruction that incorporated the remains of the ancient version. This location would serve as the site of the Games of the I Olympiad in 1896, as well as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in 2004.

Like the 1850 Wenlock Olympian Games, founded by Dr. William Penny Brookes in England, the Zappas Olympics was not an international event. Like its British counterpart, however, the Zappas Olympics laid the foundations of the current modern version. In addition to including many of the ancient sports in the modern competitions, victors in 1859 were awarded with wreaths, as well as cash prizes and gold, silver, and bronze medals presented by George I, the King of the Hellenes. In 1870 and again in 1875, these gold, silver, and bronze medals were produced and distributed. In 1870, only the gold medals were marked with their respective classes, divided between Class A (first prize) or Class B (second prize); the silver and bronze versions were unmarked. In 1875, although the Class B gold medal was still struck, the 1870 arrangement of medals was modified now to include the silver medal being marked Class B as well, establishing it as the second prize. The bronze remained unmarked, but the arrangement of gold, silver, and bronze medals as awards for first, second, and third prizes respectively, was established according to the original plan of the Zappas Olympics, and became the origin of the modern Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards issued for the modern Olympic Games.