Olympic Champion Mark Pavelich to Auction off His Gold Medal

It has become widely known that selling your gold is a great way to earn extra cash for possessions that would otherwise take up space and collect dust.

But would you sell an Olympic gold medal that you had won?

According to the Los Angeles Times, Mark Pavelich, forward for the United States Olympic men’s hockey team in 1980, has decided to do just that.

Beginning this week, Pavelich will put his “Miracle on Ice” gold medal up for auction through Heritage Auctions. He said the medal is less difficult to part with than one would think.

“You’re limited to what you can do with these things,” Pavelich said. “You keep it in a vault in the bank somewhere, and you take it out once in a while, and you look at it, and you put it back in. You can’t put (it) in a house because it could burn or get stolen, and it’s just gone and useless. It’s just an impractical thing.”

“People bring class rings, achievement rings and other cherished items all the time,” says Licia Gray, owner of Cash N Gold. “Some of these are sitting around in a jewelry box, or they were inherited from family.”

Pavelich, who went on to play in the NHL from 1981 to 1992 after Lake Placid, also cited his daughter’s financial future as a motivator to put the medal up for auction.

“I want her to get a step forward in life,” he told Yahoo Sports. “That’s probably the biggest reason.”

Pavelich and his teammates — all amateur or collegiate players — won the gold in Lake Placid, N.Y. after an historic win against the Soviet Union national hockey team, which had taken the gold medal at six of the previous seven Olympic games. In 1999, Sports Illustrated chose the “Miracle on Ice” game as the Top Sports Moment of the 20th Century.

Other members of the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team have recently earned massive dividends by parting with relics from the “Miracle on Ice” game.

In 2010, Mark Wells auctioned off his gold medal for $310,700. In 2012, Ken Morrow sold his jersey worn during the U.S.-Soviet game for $104,000, according to the Los Angeles Times.

More:

22 clues level 28 hippodrome, brain flak, hero in the hallway song, hockey player arrested on ice, how to tape your hockey stick like george, miracle on ice newspaper article, miracle on ice star mentally ill, miracle on ice team where are they now, neighbor mom fighter game, rob koch usa hockey, bill baker oral surgeon mn, who he play for 2014, 80 us olympic hockey team, gold is based on which hockey player, he threw his glasses across the room, mark pavelich arrest, pavelich hockey, 2011 olympic hockey, inspirational hockey commercial, miracle on ice roster numbers, disney on ice lake placid ny.