The gilt silver collectors' item, which is almost uncirculated, has a starting price of €20,000 (£15,500/$23,500) and is being sold as part of a mail bid auction by Heinrich Winter in Düsseldorf, Germany.

From the same Winter Olympics, an extremely fine bronze medal is also for sale, with a starting bid of €7,500 (£5,800/$8,800).

The medals from St Moritz 1948 are being sold alongside numerous other collectable medals from various Olympic Games.

Among them is a rare, uncirculated bronze figure skating medal, which comes with a ribbon and in its original presentation box, from the Sapporo 1972 Winter Olympics with a starting bid of €6,500 (£5,000/$7,600), a bronze medal with original ribbon from the Grenoble 1968 Winter Olympics starting at €6,000 (£4,600/$7,000) and a bronze medal from the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Games starting at €5,500 (£4,200/$6,500).

An official Olympic Torch from the Berlin 1936 Games is included in the auction and starts bidding at €3,200 ©Heinrich Winter

Other medals expecting to fetch a considerable sum are a silver from the Paris 1924 Summer Olympics, a silver from the Los Angeles 1932 Summer Games and a bronze from the Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Winter Olympics, which start at €5,000 (£3,800/$5,900), €5,000 (£3,800/$5,900) and €2,500 (£1,900/$2,900) respectively.

Meanwhile, a number of Olympic torches are offered for sale, including an official torch from the Berlin 1936 Games, which starts bidding at €3,200 (£2,500/$3,800), one from the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics starting at €2,000 (£1,500/$2,400) and one from Munich 1972 which starts at €900 (£700/$1,060).

Bids will be accepted by mail, phone, fax and email before 7pm Central European Time next Tuesday (January 13).

For more information click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
November 2014: Medal from 1896 Olympic Games in Athens sells for £180,000