An Olympic gold medal won by US basketball star Clyde Drexler at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is up for auction on August 17.
The medal is backed with a letter of authenticity and authorisation from the player and demands a $250,000 opening bid.
Clyde Drexler, born 1962, is one of the greats of 20th-Century US professional basketball, earning the nickname “Clyde the Glide” for his smooth style.
He played 15 seasons in the NBA at the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets, with whom he won one title, in 1995. He was picked for 10 NBA All-Star games and in the teams for both the 50th and 75th league anniversary games.
Drexler is twice honoured in US Basketball’s Hall of Fame, once as a star individual, and also as a member of the 1992 US national team who cruised to gold in Barcelona.
Olympic medals are created for each games. Their designs and rarity can add value for collectors.
The 1992 basketball tournament was a landmark in Olympic history.
The games were founded for amateur players. Those rules had eroded to the extent that, in practice, only the US NBA pros – almost certainly the world’s best – were excluded by a specific ruling against them.
That ended in 1992, and the resulting team is regarded by experts as possibly the greatest ever basketball side.
It included: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, David Robinson, Charles Barkley.
And Clyde Drexler.
The team went unbeaten throughout the tournament, beating Croatia to take the gold in the final game.
The medal is being auctioned at online marketplace Goldin, who say it is the first Dream Team medal to be auctioned.
There has been a similar sale. Last year, Dream Teamer Karl Malone sold a duplicate medal. Even that copy realised $74,000.
A signed Michael Jordan jersey from the games realised $3 million last year.
A whirlwind of publicity around the Paris 24 Olympics makes this the perfect time to sell.
Olympic medals can be surprisingly affordable and are perhaps not as rare as you may think. Around 350 golds will be won in Paris and the US alone has 1,175 golds in its all-time total for the games.
A promise that your medal will remain unique is part of the deal.
Those linked with special individuals or events have added cachet and value.
The most valuable of all was won by Jesse Owens in 1936, when the black American athlete humiliated the Nazi regime in Berlin.
One of Owens’ four golds sold for £1.1 million in 2013. Another realised just short of £500,000 in 2019.
Goldin say they believe this will be the only Dream Team medal to sell. It’s unlikely any of the star players from that team will need the money a sale would bring.
It’s not known why Drexler is selling his medal.
With the letter of authenticity is a promise to never seek a duplicate from the International Olympic Committee.
The auction closes on August 17, a week after the 2024 basketball gold medal game. Fans of the game will watch the sale with interest.
