Scarce and sought-after set of four official torches from the historic Mexico City 1968 Summer Olympics, comprising four of the storied six torch ‘types’ developed for the Games of the XIX Olympiad — Type 2, Type 3, Type 4, and Type 5. The torches are as follows:
Type 2 — white cast metal with a wrapped rope handle, measuring 18˝ in length and 4.25˝ at its widest point. The body is grooved, and the top features "Mexico 68" twice around the rim. Some scattered marks, dings, and pitting to body (apparently from the casting process), and small cracks to the base cap.
Type 3 — white cast metal and a black leather handle, measuring 17.5˝ in length and 4.25˝ at its widest point. The body is grooved, and the top features "Mexico 68" twice around the rim. Scattered marks and dings to body, and adhesive remnants to top of handle base. Includes the original pink-and-turquoise tube, which shows overall wear; the upper lid is no longer present.
Type 4 — silver aluminum with a wooden handle, measuring 20.75˝ in length and 4˝ at its widest point. The upper metal ring features a pattern of six doves, and the metallic label at the bottom reads “Mexico” twice. The base of the handle bears an affixed label which features the logo of the Games and names the designer, Manuel Villazon, and manufacturer, Productos Victor S.A. The torch bears light scattered wear, including adhesive remnants to the upper ring.
Type 5 — black aluminum with a wooden handle, measuring 20.5″ in length and 4″ at its widest point. The upper metal ring features a pattern of six doves, and the metallic label at the bottom reads “Mexico” twice. The base of the handle bears an affixed label that features the logo of the Games and names the designer, Manuel Villazon. The torch bears light scattered scuffs and marks, with notable rubbing to the lower emblem label. Includes the original pink-and-turquoise tube, which exhibits scattered light wear and paper loss.
Aside from its distinction as being the first Spanish-speaking Olympiad, the Mexico City Games hold the honor of having the most styles of relay torches; a record obtained not for the sake of one-upmanship, but rather due to the faulty design of the original torch (Type 1), which, because of its aluminum alloy frame, overheated and made it impossible to carry. Handles made of amianthus rope (Type 2) and leather (Type 3) provided temporary solutions until the torch’s new, slimmer design resulted in the torch top, with “Mexico 68,” melting. This too was addressed with the additions of the ‘Type 4’ and ‘Type 5’ torches.
The torch relay for the Mexico 1968 Summer Games recreated the route taken by Christopher Columbus to the New World, and began on August 23, 1968, in Olympia, Greece. It notably traveled through Columbus’s birthplace in Genoa, where he set sail from Palos in Spain, and the first land he reached in San Salvador. In all, there were 2,778 torchbearers on the 13,546 km route.
