The object is not within the reach of all budgets, but potential buyers are numerous.

Saturday in Vannes, a torch from the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics will be auctioned.

The starting price is set at 30,000 euros, but it could very quickly fly away.

On Saturday, master Jack-Philippe Ruellan will have the great honor of kicking off the auction for a torch for the Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble in 1968. The "star lot" of this day in Vannes in Morbihan is a extremely rare piece.

76 centimeters long, decorated with the coat of arms with five slightly faded copper rings, the object comes from a member of the organizing committee of the 1968 Olympics.

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Jack-Philippe Ruellan claims to have proof that the torch was carried by a torchbearer to the large basin.

"We even have a burner", he enthuses over the microphone of Europe 1. "We see that it has been consumed since we have traces of carbon on it."

© Europe 1 / Charles Guyard

Museums and private collectors

The collector's item should be of interest to more than one buyer.

Indeed, as soon as the announcement was published, several of them appeared, in France but also abroad.

"We immediately think of sports museums, but we also have many private collectors and companies also who want to acquire fairly symbolic objects," explains Delphine Kahl, clerk of the auctioneer.

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The lucky buyer will in any case have to break the bank: the starting price is set at 30,000 euros, a figure that could quickly fly away.

The last torch of this type sold for 210,000 euros in 2013. Pending the sale, the object remains in a safe place.

As for the unfortunate losers, they will console themselves with the motto of Pierre de Coubertin: "the important thing is to participate."