A project to design the Olympic flag signed Pierre de Coubertin was awarded 185,000 euros during an auction in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), said this Sunday July 26 Cannes Enchères, the organizer of the sale. " The drawing was sold to a Brazilian collector, a private individual, at a price of 185,000 euros plus 27% costs, or 234,950 euros ", specifies Alexandre Debussy, associate director of Cannes Enchères.
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The National Sports Museum, located in Nice, also coveted the piece, but the sum that it had planned to spend to pre-empt it on behalf of the French state turned out to be lower than the auction price, explained Mr. Debussy.
Designed in 1913 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, this project had been given to one of his supporters in Lausanne and had remained in the same family until its recent acquisition by a collector who put it in the spotlight. sale today.
Estimated at less than 100,000 euros
Estimated between 80,000 and 100,000 euros, this original drawing in graphite and gouache on paper, measuring 21 x 27.5 centimeters, was priced at 50,000 euros.
During this sale dedicated to the world of sport, the National Sport Museum consoled itself by preempting the gloves of Brazilian Formula 1 champion Ayrton Senna, offered at the end of the Grand Prix to the president of the Estoril circuit, at the Portugal, in 1990. This pair of gloves was acquired by the Nice museum for nearly 12,000 euros, costs included.
In total, only 4 lots out of the 160 auctioned did not find takers, the total sale showing hammer a balance sheet of 282,000 euros, or 360,000 euros with costs. In a sold-out room, collectors were particularly interested in lots related to football, motor racing and tennis, as well as the Olympics, says the organizer.
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