Olympian's gold Rolex may skate away with $12,000

OAKLAND, Calif. – On Sunday, February 16th, Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland, California, will bring to auction what is perhaps one of the most significant and inspiring collections of winter sports memorabilia offered in recent decades. Coming from U.S. Olympian Peggy Fleming’s personal collection, she feels strongly that it is her time to share her personal memorabilia with the country and the world that supported her throughout her amazing career, a career and collection that dates back to 1964 Innsbruck, Austria and the IX Olympic Winter Games.

Peggy Fleming, known for her beauty and grace on and off the ice, dominated women’s figure skating and is considered a pioneer in women’s athletics. Peggy raised the bar in elegance, technique and style, changing the sport of figure skating forever, taking if from staid to glamorous. Her unrivaled achievements launched a long and successful career as both a professional figure skater and sports commentator with ABC sports.

Fleming began skating at age nine when her family moved to Cleveland and soon began skating in earnest on the advice of her father. In 1961, when Peggy was twelve years old, her coach, William Kipp, was killed in the crash of Sabena Flight 548 along with the rest of the United States figure skating team while en route to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships. Fleming was subsequently coached by Carlo Fassi. Her unusual style led to five U.S. titles, three World titles and the Gold Medal in the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France. Her award in Grenoble was singularly important for the American athletes and the nation as a whole, for this was the only gold medal that the U.S. Olympic team won in the 1968 Winter Games. It signaled the beginning of the return to American dominance in the sport of women's figure skating following the unprecedented tragedy of the 1961 plane crash.

On Sunday, Febraury 16, 2014, Clars is very honored to have been selected by Ms. Fleming to offer five historic lots from her personal collection.

The first offering will be a Lady’s Rolex Datejust President 18k yellow wristwatch, Ref. 69138, circa 1995. The watch has the factory diamond dial and bezel and is accompanied by the original certificate, personal ephemera of autographs, photographs and advertising from her years of advertising work with Rolex®. (estimate: $8,000 to $12,000)

The second offering will be a coveted pair of custom-made ice skates by Harlick of California. These skates were executed for Ms. Fleming and used in the Rolex® Yacht Master advertising campaign.Both skates feature an etched autograph on the blades. (estimate: $2,000 to $4,000)

The third offering will be two of Ms. Flemings official Olympic jackets, her United States Olympics Training Center jacket with leather sleeves and her United States Olympic Gala jacket. Both jackets retain the official patches and are autographed by Fleming. (estimate: $800 to $1,200)

One of two official Olympic jackets heading to auction, featuring leather sleeves, official Olympic patches and Fleming's autograph. The pair of jackets are pegged to draw $800 to $1,200. (Photo courtesy Clars Auction Gallery)

The fourth offering from her personal collection will be the official 1964 United States Olympic Team suitcase used for the IX Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. The Samsonite case with official decals will be offered with a photo reproduction of the 1964 U.S Olympic figure skating team, and the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Torch relay top and pants she wore during the relay and the opening of the 2002 Winter Games. Each of these items bear Fleming’s autograph. (estimate: $800 to $1,200)

The fifth offering will be a group of Peggy Fleming signed ephemera including the May 2, 1966 Sports Illustrated magazine “Our New World Champion,”; February 23, 1968 LIFE Magazine “Olympic Charmer,” and a copy of her schematic from the Free Skating Program, 1968 Olympic Winter Games, Grenoble France. This group will be offered together with signed press photographs. (estimate: $600 to $800).

The Peggy Fleming Collection will be offered at Clars’ Auction Gallery on Sunday, February 16, as part of their Fine Art and Antiques Sale. The auction will begin promptly at 9:30am. Previews for this sale will be held Friday, February 14th from 1pm to 6pm and 9am each auction day and by appointment. A complete catalog will be available online one week prior to the sale.

Bidding for Clars auctions is available in person, by phone, absentee and live online @ www.clars.com, and through www.liveauctioneers.com and http://www.artfact.com. Clars Auction Gallery is located at 5644 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609.