London 2012 Olympic Torch Flames Going Postal
So you can’t afford an Official Olympic Torch from the 2012 Relay, complete with 8000 holes:
Representing the inspirational stories of the 8,000 Torchbearers who will carry the Olympic Flame, the circles which run the length of the body of the Torch also offer a unique level of transparency. You can see right to the heart of the Torch and view the burner system which will keep the Olympic Flame alive on its journey around the UK.
- Sarah Milner Olympic Torch
You could have had the one for £153,000 if you had fallen for the fake bid. Or you could have paid – more realistically – about £6,000.
An excellent momento, and quite suitable to be a fondue burner or prop for a Medieval Supper.
Or you can wait for the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) to start flogging off the ones they have left over, or which torchbearers did not purchase for £200.
You may soon be able to get a real Greece 2004 Olympic Torch for a lower figure, of course, depending which plughole finally claims the Euro.
Torchbearing Profiteers, or non-profiteers making money for a charity, now have to work out the detail of the Tax Implications. In summary, sales above £6,000 trigger a Taxable Gain, and if you are selling for a charity give it to the charity first. If you are a partial profiteer giving away some of the money, then life is more complicated.
There’s now another option, however.
Forget material torches, sets of official branded pyjamas, postcards or anything else, you can have a Spiritual Souvenir – a bootleg version of the Olympic flame itself, direct from Ebay user spellingmistake.
- Olympic Torch Flame London 2012
FLAME FROM THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC TORCH
This flame was taken from the Olympic torch as it toured around the UK.
It has been kept burning since then on a succession of candles.
Collection is advised.
Although the flame may be posted I accept no responsibility for it becoming extinguished in transit.
Available in a variety of sizes. (Large option only available to buyers providing a bin on their own property.)
Comes with a certificate of authenticity.
Buyers agree not to sell or make copies from the flame once purchased
Skeptical and discerning consumers (ahem) have asked the awkward questions, and received entirely convincing answers. Here are a few samples.
Q: I don’t understand how the large sized flame could be posted. That’s a lot of money should the flame be extinguished. Is it collection only? Do I need a special bin? 07-Jun-12
A: The price of the large size flame includes personal delivery. I will travel with the flame in a miners lamp to your address and set fire to your bin.
Q: hi, you’ve got to be kidding…right?!?!? where do the certificates of authenticity come from? how on earth can a LIT CANDLE/FLAME be posted via the royal mail? what do you package it in? how can you be sure it will stay alight? and more importantly, have you sold any of these yet, and were they recieved by the buyer still burning? kind regards, m 06-Jun-12
A: Each certificate of authenticity is 100% genuine and comes with its own smaller certificate to prove so. I have spoke with the post office and they assure me that a lit candle/flame can be posted if it is sent Next Day Delivery in appropriate packaging, clearly marked as “FRAGILE” and “ON FIRE”. However to ensure satisfaction I do advise collection. And yes, I have already sold several flames to collectors of Olympic memorabilia and fire enthusiasts around the world. I hope this answers your questions.
Q: where does the certificate of authenticity come from is it from the british olympic assotiation or printed from someones computer 06-Jun-12
A: They are printed from a computer that has been authenticated to print certificates of authenticity with an official seal. I hope this clears things up. Thanks
Q: am very interested in your olympic flame but would you explain in more detail how it could be posted? 02-Jun-12
A: I’ve spoken to the Post Office and they’ve assured me it is possible to send a small fire or lighted candle via the postal system as long as it is sent Next Day Delivery in appropriate packaging.
The Admirable Spellingmistake clearly needs a lot of people who were born yesterday who will buy these products; I’d recommend her to try 56-64 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4LT, where they are currently trying to work out a policy on how to feed lettuce to a Live Woolly Mammoth without being speared on the tusks for when one comes live out of the thawing Russian permafrost.
The pic is from a 1960s ceremony in Greece, taken from a postcard on Ebay, which can be yours for a mere £4.99. This ceremony was the prototype for the Eurovision Song Contest.
It is rumoured that the girl in the pic is Anna while on the bummel around Greece, but that cannot be proven any more than the existence of this product. Given that Anna spends her spare time building viaducts in the Roman style, I’m suspicious of those ladylike biceps.
In the spirit of competition, I am offering tealights bearing an Olympic flame for a mere £10.
They will be delivered in a brown paper envelope, and will be cool if the flame happens to have gone out in transit. Any resemblance to a half-burnt tealight is not to be used to draw cynical conclusions.
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1
June 10, 2012 at 08:36 -
Is the eBay user ‘spellingmistake’ located in Liverpool by any chance? Very enterprising, those Scousers….
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2
June 10, 2012 at 09:43 -
Brilliant! Laughed out loud!
Nearly as unbelievable as the fact that LOCOG actually sells the bloody torch to the people who were good enough to carry it for free in the first place.
I particularly like the way they put it back in a container overnight and the way they carry it from place to place in a coach, give it to the runners to prance about with for a while, then put it back in the coach and drive it to the next place. I naively thought that a relay meant passing it from runner to runner, not driving it around as well. Seems like a cheat to me.
I have my own stored on a zippo lighter. When I want to show it to people, I just flip the lid open, turn a little wheel and it appears like magic. Brilliant! However I understand that LOCOG are upset about the logo on the lighter. Perhaps I made a mistake asking them for a certificate of authenticity?
At the end of the day, it’s a flame for God’s sake. The whole thing is completely ludicrous!!!!
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3
June 10, 2012 at 09:51 -
Yikes, I work just around the corner from the watermelon’s head office? They certainly don’t advertise their presence there.
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4
June 10, 2012 at 13:12 -
That watermelon link should have a warning – it brings up a frightful picture of Lucas MP & caused a coffee malfunction on my keyboard.
I store my Olympic flame in my gas cooker, which has five rings on it.
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5
June 10, 2012 at 15:17 -
6
June 10, 2012 at 15:31 -
Ah, but does the certificate of authenticity have embossed upon it that little picture of Lisa Simpson, official fluffer of London 2012?
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7
June 10, 2012 at 19:15 -
Thanks for a comical take on a topic that had already become unbearably tedious. The Olympic competition I can enjoy but when it gets buried in self aggradizing b.s. designed to give “Lord” Coe and the old farts of the I.O.C. an even more inflated idea of their importance I lose patience very quickly.
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8
June 10, 2012 at 19:38 -
The way LOCOG are acting re sponsorship I would have thought that Londoners should be telling them to get the sponsors to pay for the event and not London or the government. Maybe Tone and Gordo should be chipping in as it was their idea in the first place.
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10
June 10, 2012 at 22:48 -
Someone I know told me about 6 years ago that people were selling magic spells on eBay. They’d issue one to your specifications for a tenner. He decided it was a great idea and began doing it himself, last I heard he had taken around £1,600 and enjoyed 100% positive feedback. :-0
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11
June 11, 2012 at 00:39 -
I have a box of miniturised olympic torches ( transient) which can be used for alternative ignition procedures. So very green.
They were made by Swan and Vestas. -
12
June 11, 2012 at 02:36 -
The Toblerone of Fire is due to pass my town soon. I look forward to the excluded outside pubs asking for a light.
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