POSTER STAMPS AND LABELS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

      INTRODUCTION

      STATISTICS

      UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

        SUMMER GAMES
1894 - Modern Games Founded
1896 - I Olympiad - Athens
1900 - II Olympiad - Paris
      - Vignettes of the 1900 Paris Expo
1904 - III Olympiad - St. Louis
1906 - Intercalated Games - Athens
1908 - IV Olympiad - London
1912 - V Olympiad - Stockholm
1913 - Berlin prepares for 1916 games
1914 - 20th Anniversary of Rebirth of Games
1916 - VI Olympiad - Berlin
1920 - VII Olympiad - Antwerp
1924 - VIII Olympiad - Paris
      - Post Cards
1928 - IX Olympiad - Amsterdam
1932 - X Olympiad - Los Angeles
1936 - XI Olympiad - Berlin
1940 - XII Olympiad - Tokyo
      - XII Olympiad - Helsinki
      - New Zealand Centennial Games
1944 - XIII Olympiad - London
      - German POW Games
1948 - XIV Olympiad - London
1952 - XV Olympiad - Helsinki
1956 - XVI Olympiad - Melbourne
      - XVI Olympiad - Stockholm
1960 - XVII Olympiad - Rome

1900 - II Olympiad - Paris

May 20-Oct. 28

 

Modern posters for the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris

 

Paris: Then and Now
(Click and then zoom on these, especially "Then." Amazing detail - the Eiffel Tower was bright yellow!)

The 1900 Games were a somewhat bizarre event co-opted by the organizers of the Exposition Universelle in Paris that year. Baron de Coubertin had hoped to increase participation and interest in the Games by having them coincide with another event, but his plan backfired, and the resulting Games were even less focused than the ones in 1896. Indeed, the confusion was so great that many participants did not realize they had participated in the Olympics!

In keeping with the impromptu nature of these Games, there was no official poster. The one on the left above was created many years later, when collectors demanded one. It was based on an actual poster for the Exposition Universelle held in Paris at the same time as the Games, and is the one the IOC displays at its site. The one on the right was also invented for collectors, and is presumably based on some other poster or magazine cover of the era, but I have been unable to determine its source.

There were no poster stamps or labels created for the 1900 Games - at least none has surfaced to date.

------------------------

12/15/18 - I insist there were no poster stamps for these Games, but eBay sellers and other collectors keep saying that ANY label created for the 1900 Exposition Universelle is an "Olympic label."
Wrong, but just because there are so MANY of them, and many are quite beautiful, I have added a page to display some of them. CLICK HERE to view my page of vignettes from the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris!
(And thanks to Alvaro Trucchi for his contributions to that page.)

If you don't care to see the full display, the sheetlet below is my favorite, first for its Art Nouveau flair, and second, for the train!


Poster stamps for the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris
They were printed in many different colors.

Here's another spectacular example, also with a train.


There were no postage stamps created for the 1900 Games.


There were no winter games in 1900.

      SOLVED MYSTERIES!

      STILL MISSING

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      UPDATE HISTORY

       SUMMER GAMES
1964 - XVIII Olympiad - Tokyo
1968 - XIX Olympiad - Mexico City
1972 - XX Olympiad - Munich

       WINTER GAMES
1924 - I Winter Games - Chamonix
1928 - II Winter Games - St Moritz
1932 - III Winter Games - Lake Placid
1936 - IV Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1940 - V Winter Games - Sapporo
      - V Winter Games - St Moritz
      - V Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1944 - V Winter Games - Cortina d'Ampezzo
1948 - V Winter Games - St Moritz
1952 - VI Winter Games - Oslo
1956 - VII Winter Games - Cortina d'Ampezzo
1960 - VIII Winter Games - Squaw Valley
1964 - IX Winter Games - Innsbruck
1968 - X Winter Games - Grenoble
1972 - XI Winter Games - Sapporo

       OTHER TOPICS
      - U.S. OLYMPIC SHIELD DECALS
      - Workers' Olympics


TOP

I am indebted to Robert J DuBois for allowing me to use images and information from his Catalog of Olympic Labels on these web pages.

All text and images are the property of the author. Any errors are his.
REWARD! If you have better or additional information about anything shown or discussed here, please email the author.
Email address at bottom of page. Full credit gladly given - your name, ebay ID, web site...

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All text Copyright © 2013, William M. Senkus

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Created -- 07/27/2013
Revised -- 12/15/2018