Olympic Torches....for sale on Ebay

[concordia]

Hmmm, don't know how I feel about this. I didn't realize that each Olympic Torch relay runner got a torch, which they or their organization could purchase for £300. I naively thought there were only a few torches that were passed from runner to runner. OK, they don't have to buy it, but it means that there must be 8000+ torches around. Bravo for captitalism, I guess, some runners have put them up on Ebay for auction. Most are giving at least a percentage to charity and I suppose that is a good thing for the charity, after all many of the runners have been chosen for their charity work. Have seen two today, one on BIN for £145,000.00 and one with bids sitting at £63,000.00. I don't know...knocks the gloss off the whole Olympic thing a bit to me. But I can see that people around the world might collect them and pay ridiculous amounts of money for them. In the end, we taxpayers paid for them. Maybe I just wish I had thought of it first...:cash::cash::cash:

 

[petpixie]

There was a piece on the news about this this morning. They had an antique/collectors expert on and he seemed dubious about the bids as he reckoned the torches would be valued around the £3000 - £4000 mark.

 

[minim]

As much as that?

In my book if it's not beautiful or it's not practical, it's not worth it.
What the heck would you do with an Olympic torch?
Where would you put it?

 

[petpixie]

Yup minim ~ overpriced imo. I suppose you could stick it in the garden and use it as a barbecue lighter.

 

[sublime]

I was really taken aback that they were charging each runner £200 just to buy their torch. They've also been told that they can buy the tracksuits they wear, and various other merchandise.

My sister's carrying the torch next month, and she decided she wouldn't buy her torch. However, the headteacher of the school she teaches at has offered to buy it and donate it to the school. It'll be on display there, so that all the children can feel that they have a connection to the Olympics.

I thought that was pretty wonderful of him!

 

[concordia]

Sorry, I was wrong, they can buy their torches for £300. Supposedly they cost £500 each.

 

[Frazzled]

It would be nice to see a big corporation cough up the money, Virgin, Tesco or the like. A drop in the ocean for them, good publicity and tax deductible! I like the idea of a school or employer helping out, but it's an honour to have been selected, they should be allowed to keep them anyway IMO.

 

[sublime]

it's an honour to have been selected, they should be allowed to keep them anyway IMO.

Completely agree, when my sister got her email about buying her torch our jaws did a collective 'thunk' as they hit the floor.
If you read the biogs of the torch bearers many are there because they're just ordinary people who contribute an extraordinary amount to their communities, not because they're fabulously wealthy.

And just to compound my cynicism, what's the betting that the celebs who are publicising this thing are up to their necks in Olympic freebies?