Media coverage for the pending sale was reasonably hot with local radio stations taking sound bites from the sound archives reliving the Olympic history he made in the 1964 Tokyo Games when he won two gold medals, for the 800 metres and the 1500 metres
The vendor of this priceless piece of apparel is rumoured to have acquired the ''singlet '' in a charity auction many years ago and had the garment archively mounted and framed along with three press photographs of the athlete and a facsimile signature Peter Snell.along with a 1965 book on Snell entitled No Bugles No Drums by Garth Gilmore
Auctioneer Andrew Grigg of Cordy's had carefully considered, as you do, the pre sale estimate range to be in the $30,000-$50,000 range.
Bidding for the large framed assemblage of sporting memorabilia started at $20,000 and rose in $2,500 increments with multiple bids coming from the floor and the phone. As fate would have it I was sitting next to the under bidder, a young woman with a male client rumoured to be Sir Russell Coutes (New Zealand Olympic Games gold medallist in saling and five times winner of the America's Cup), on the other end of the line. They pulled out at $120,000 and the $122,500 bid was successful
The successful bidder was on another phone and later that day it was revealed that Te Papa Tongarewa (The Museum of N,Z,) was the successful bidder and the C.E.O. of the institution Rick Ellis was very happy with the new acquisition for our National Heritage with staff claiming that ''it is part of our D.N.A.'' and as a result worth every penny
The 773 lot auction held a few other surprises with a Kauri gum ''boulder'' of 1396 gms. selling for $1,500, a Wapiti stag head 12 pointer selling for $2,300 and a 19th century Maori carved whalebone Kotiate selling for $3,500.
But I was pretty happy with my purchase of a $130 vintage Mickey Mouse car radiator mascot from the 1930's, a rare bit of do it yourself art, and made with out permission from Uncle Walt.
All prices shown are in New Zealand dollars.