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Posted 04/15/2026 12:47 pm
The reason the 1911 Pittsburgh YMCA "Olympics" Meet medal is familiar to numismatists is that the design was directly borrowed from the silver winner's medal of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, in 1896.
The original 50mm silver medal was engraved by French artist Jules-Clement Chaplain. In the 1986 games, first-place winners received silver medals, while second-place finishers received bronze.
An example of the 1896 silver medal was sold on March 1st by the Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen Arts Auctioneers for $180,690.
In comparison, on March 11, I purchased an uncirculated bronze example of the 31mm 1911 Pittsburgh YMCA medal on ebay for $70. I added it to the tokencatalog.com website (TC-728365) with the following description:
OBV: (Greek lettering for "International Olympic Games") / COPY OF ATHENS OLYMPIC MEDAL / PITTSBURGH / YMCA / OLYMPIC MEET / 1911 / (Acropolis rock and Parthenon) / (Greek lettering for "Athens") / 1906
REV: (Zeus holding a globe with Goddess Nike) / (Greek lettering for "Olympics") / DIEGES & CLUST
Below is a comparison of the two medals:
The original 50mm silver medal was engraved by French artist Jules-Clement Chaplain. In the 1986 games, first-place winners received silver medals, while second-place finishers received bronze.
An example of the 1896 silver medal was sold on March 1st by the Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen Arts Auctioneers for $180,690.
In comparison, on March 11, I purchased an uncirculated bronze example of the 31mm 1911 Pittsburgh YMCA medal on ebay for $70. I added it to the tokencatalog.com website (TC-728365) with the following description:
OBV: (Greek lettering for "International Olympic Games") / COPY OF ATHENS OLYMPIC MEDAL / PITTSBURGH / YMCA / OLYMPIC MEET / 1911 / (Acropolis rock and Parthenon) / (Greek lettering for "Athens") / 1906
REV: (Zeus holding a globe with Goddess Nike) / (Greek lettering for "Olympics") / DIEGES & CLUST
Below is a comparison of the two medals:
