When I was in high school or college, I bought a piece of US Olympic memorabilia on a whim. My parents were going through my closet at my childhood home, and they reminded me about this 1976 Olympic blazer from the US Olympic team that I bought. I am curious if you know anything about it and whether it’s worth something.
I don’t have any provenance or know anything about the history of the blazer. I saw a video of the opening ceremony from the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and if you watch at 2:50, you can see the US Olympic team entering with the men wearing what looks to be this blazer. At 2:53, if you look at the man in the middle, you can see the patch on the right arm, which matches the location of the patch.
I have no idea if there are other ways to verify authenticity, although I can’t imagine that this would be something that is counterfeited. My only other thought if it’s not “authentic” is that it could potentially have been sold at Montgomery Ward because of one of the inner pocket patches. There are some photos below.
Do you have any idea how to tell if it is authentic and worth something? It looks pretty cool.
This peaked by interest so I did a bit of searching and could only find an auction entry for a Tokyo 1964 jacket.
http://www.bidami.com/Auctions/AuctionItem?AuctionId=40005&t=&p=0
Apparently, they must not come up for sale very often.
I found out some more info. The arm patch signifies track and field, and it is likely authentic. I was also told by someone in the sports memorabilia auction business that it is probably worth $500.
Wonder if the US Olympics Museum would want something like this.
Morphy Auctions is an auction house that sells toys, books, and off beat items like your jacket.
morphyauctions.com
They may be able to tell you something about the jacket.
BTW, they recently sold a signed 1st edition of a Martin Luther King, Jr. book for $49,000.
I’m not affiliated with the auction house, and I don’t know anyone there, but they are located in Lancaster, PA, which isn’t very far from me.
Could be worth a lot if Bruce Jenner wore it.
I would have no way of knowing who wore it as far as I am aware.
Wikipedia said there were 278 men on the 1976 Olympic team. I don’t know how many men were on the track and field team.