Interesting Olympic Figures Draw Little Attention

September 4, 2004

By Adam McFarland

The Athens Olympics came and went recently without drawing much attention from collectors. Olympic figures likely generate very little interest for one simple reason: the Olympics as a whole just don’t generate the interest that they did in years past. People have many more viewing options and fewer tune in to the Olympics each time they come around. This lack of interest carries over to collectors.

Although overlooked, there are some very interesting sets out there that can be had without spending much money. There have been several Olympic figures released from Kenner, Mattel, and McFarlane.

Olympic figures first hit the scene when Starting Lineup released the 1992 USA Basketball Team Lineup. This is one of the most attractive Starting Lineups ever released by Kenner. The team lineup has the original Dream Team (minus Clyde Drexler and Christian Laettner who were added to the team late) in two rows of five with the second row on an elevated platform (see picture). The retail price of the figure was around $80 but could be found on store shelves for much less a few months later.

Over the next few years, the figure became a huge success with collectors. Currently, it is listed in the October 2004 issue of Tuff Stuff magazine as being valued at $100 but can be found on eBay for around $20. Although this figure is still somewhat popular (most auctions do end with a sale), it was probably overproduced and is just too easy to find to have such a high book value.

Trying to capitalize on the success of the 1992 Team Set, Kenner released two Team Sets in 1996 to represent Dream Team III (Dream Team II played in the World Championships in 1994 and no figures were made). Each set had five players and the sets were sold separately. Glenn Robinson was included in Set Two of Two. This is noteworthy because he never played on the team. Kenner, in an effort to get the items out in a timely manner, produced the sets as soon as USA Basketball released their initial roster and did not expect Robinson to not be on the final team. These sets were again probably overproduced because they could be found on store shelves years later. They are currently valued at $20 a piece. This is also very generous because they can be had for less than $10 in many auctions.

To make up for the Robinson “mistake”, Kenner released a Kenner Club set for members of the club that included Charles Barkley, Mitch Richmond, and Gary Payton. These were the three members that rounded out the twelve man team that included nine from the first two sets (minus Robinson). This item draws some interest because all of the Kenner Club pieces are slightly harder to find due to the fact that they were never released in stores. It books at $25 but can also be found on eBay for roughly $10.

Kenner also released figures of other Olympians in their Timeless Legends series. From 1996 to 1998 there were figures released for various winter and summer athletes such as Jim Thorpe, Michael Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersey, Bonnie Blair, and Dan Jansen.

The only figure from the Timeless Legends sets that generates any interest with collectors is the 1998 Mike Eruzione Timeless Legends piece. This hockey piece of the hero of the “Miracle on Ice” was offered at only one retail chain and is extremely difficult to obtain. It was listed by Tuff Stuff as one of the ten toughest Starting Lineups for collectors to get in 2004. Not only is it hard to find the figure, I was unable to find a picture of the item to use for this piece! It books at $15 but has been seen in recent months going for as high as $40-$50. The limited production of the piece, combined with the revival of the 1980 Olympic Team since the release of the movie “Miracle,” makes this figure one that collectors will continue to chase after for years to come.

In 2000, Mattel (who snatched the rights to produce NBA figures away from Kenner after 1998) produced individual Olympic figures for each team member as well as a Team Set that was released in Target stores only. The team set features five of the players in playing poses with gold medals around their necks. The set books at a ridiculous $45 and figures vary from $8-$25, but the team set can be found on eBay for less than $10 and the individual figures for about $5.

Most recently in 2002 McFarlane released two Team Canada Boxed Sets exclusive to Wal-Mart stores in Canada. These sets were of the gold medal winning Canadian Hockey Team from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. The first set has Chris Pronger, Curtis Joseph, Steve Yzerman, and Mario Lemieux. The second set consists of Eric Lindros, Martin Brodeur, Joe Sakic, and Paul Kariya. These sets are of particular interest to US collectors because they were not made available in the States. These pieces have also had a renewed interest recently with the 2004 World Cup of Hockey getting underway. They book for $75 a piece and are currently selling for about that much.

Although there is a clear lack of interest in Olympic figures, there are some enticing pieces out there for collectors to have at a reasonable price. Anyone looking for a new niche to explore should consider the Olympic pieces. It is relatively easy to find most of them but the Eruzione piece and Team Canada Sets are hard enough to find that an interesting challenge exists for collectors.