Ripley's Collection

The Fiji Mermaid Lost Apollo Tapes Hoss the Hairball St. Augustine Olympic Torches The Monroe Dress The Berlin Wall undefined

Fan the flame and discover one of the world's largest Olympic torch collections!

Olympic Torches

Ripley's Believe It or Not! is the proud curator of a remarkable nearly complete set of Olympic torches. Ripley's collection of Olympic torches now stands as one of the world's largest and most valuable private collections. It showcases a remarkable 116 torches with a more than $10 million combined value.

"The Ripley collection of authentic Olympic Torches rivals any in the World. The Olympic Museum (founded by the International Olympic Committee) in Switzerland and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado feature 'complete' collections, including authorized replicas of Innsbruck 1964. "Many of the earlier games produced very small numbers of torches, most of which are in museums, making a complete private collection a challenging feat," noted Ripley's Director of Exhibits, John Corcoran.

Ripley's collection remains unmatched, with rare highlights including:

  • The 1936 Berlin Games torch, which is highly coveted and historically significant, as this was the first time the torch relay was introduced.

  • The 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics torch , signifying the first time the Games were held in the U.S. and a new standard for Olympic presentations thanks to pageantry committee chairman Walt Disney.

  • All seven versions of the   1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics torch . The creation of different versions of this torch was due to design flaws that caused burns on torch bearer's hands.

  • The most recent 2024 Paris Olympic torch. 

  • The most valuable torch in the collecting world, the 1952 Helsinki Olympics torch. 

Ripley's collection is now only missing the 1964 Innsbruck torch, of which only two were made!

Fan the flame and discover one of the world's largest Olympic torch collections!
Swirling Pinstripe backdrop
Ripley's Cartoon of the Day

November 1, 2024

Cartoon of the Day

A fart could theoretically propel you through space.

Ripley's Cartoon of the Day

Robert Ripley began the Believe It or Not! cartoon in 1918. Today, Kieran Castaño is the eighth artist to continue the legacy of illustrating the world's longest-running syndicated cartoon!