A Nero Lemania stopwatch used to measure Roger Bannister's four minute mile has sold for £20,000 ($31,077).
The lot starred in a May 18 sale of sporting memorabilia at Graham Budd Auctions in London, exceeding an estimate of £8,000 ($12,430) by 150%.
 Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile on May 6, 1954 |
Bannister broke the record for the distance at Oxford University's Iffley Road Track on May 6, 1954.
The auction house described the feat as "one of those remarkable, historic moments in British sporting history. It's known all round the world, which is quite wonderful. At that time, it was thought to be a remarkable human achievement
"Goodness knows when the next opportunity will come, if at all, to acquire another of the watches that was used on the day".
The watch itself belonged to timekeeper WJ Burfitt and is one of five used on the day. Another of the watches sold for £8,855 ($13,493) at Bonhams London in 1998.
An impressive array of pieces were offered at the sale, including an Olympic torch from the 1952 Helsinki Games that sold for £400,000 ($622,152) - a new record for an Olympic torch.
It beat the previous record, set at $324,330 for another Helsinki torch in 2011, by 91.8%.
We have a fantastic array of sports memorabilia available to buy, click here to take a look.
Please sign up to our free newsletter to receive exciting news about sporting memorabilia auctions.
