Snell's singlet settles into new home

(File)
(File)

Sir Peter Snell is staggered his Olympic singlet has fetched nearly three times an estimate he already thought was ridiculous.

Te Papa knocked out a rival bidder at auction, and it plans to display it alongside some other famous black singlets.

1964 Olympic gold medal winner Snell told Newshub he thought this singlet was probably worth a couple of hundred dollars -- but today it sold to our national museum for $122,500, plus $18,000 in auctioneer's fees.

"[It's] amazing that someone would pay that but I'm glad it's going to be at Te Papa and not in some private collection," he said.

Auction house Cordy's estimated it would go for between $30,000 and $50,000, and says it was a tussle between two bidders at the end.

"At that $50,000 or $60,000 level we probably still had five or six bidders -- it just showed how it captured people's imaginations," Cordy's auctioneer Andrew Grigg said.

Te Papa Museum's Kate Camp says she thinks it'll be a huge drawcard, and help tell New Zealand's stories.

She says it'll link in with other famous black singlets in the collection.

"We have Fred Dagg's black singlet and we have David Fagan, the world shearing champion's black singlet," Ms Camp said.

The money came from Te Papa's $2 million annual acquisitions budget -- but the museum won't say what its upper limit was for the singlet.

Snell says the singlet needs the other stuff to go along with it -- that other stuff being his medals.

"I have two daughters who'll be inheriting my stuff and I think they'll be happy to see the medals go to where the singlet is," he explained.

Te Papa says it's too early to say when or where it's going to go on display.

The singlet was sold in a glass frame and they say they'll need to get it out of there, check its condition and think about how best to tell Snell's story.

It's a big windfall for the private seller, and while Snell would like some of the money to be donated towards the charity Parkinson's New Zealand, the auction house says the vendor will use the money to seek medical treatment in America.

Newshub.