A rare and exceptional piece of Olympic and postwar British history. This full-size rayon crepe scarf was produced immediately following the 1948 London Olympics — the XIVth Olympiad — bearing a complete hand-lettered record of every event winner across the Games.
Devised and produced by Arnold Lever from official records, through the courtesy of the Olympic Games Organising Committee, and printed in Surrey, England by Weyvale Fabric Printworks.
The design centres on the Olympic rings rendered in the five classic colours, with results covering athletics, swimming, cycling, boxing, wrestling, fencing, equestrian, rowing and more — every discipline, every podium place, every nation.
The 1948 Games were the Austerity Olympics: the first since Berlin 1936, staged in a rationed, rebuilding London with no new infrastructure and athletes housed in RAF barracks. This scarf is a direct artefact of that moment.
Full size. Rayon crepe. Mint condition. Exceptionally rare.
Condition: Near mint Material: Rayon crepe Origin: Surrey, England Date: 1948 Provenance: Weyvale Fabric Printworks, produced with official Olympic committee cooperation