QUESTION: My father has been involved in curling since he was a teenager. Being of Scottish background, curling seems to be in his blood. Over time, he’s amassed quite a collection of curling memorabilia. And while I’m not as interested in participating in curling, I do love the idea of collecting its memorabilia. With all the recent attention that curling got from the recent Winter Olympics, how has the value of memorabilia been affected?
ANSWER: The key to smart collecting is discovering today’s sports-related souvenirs that could become tomorrow’s hot collectible. Spotting trends is the key, especially when a sport skyrockets to international acclaim as just happened with curling at the Milan/Cortina Winter Olympics.
While most Americans aren’t familiar with curling, the widespread coverage of the sport at the recent games brought it to the forefront, along with the memorabilia that goes with it. Its colorful buttons, stylish pins and embroidered badges often appear at sports shows, flea markets and in online auctions.
Curling developed in 16th-century Scotland where it was played outdoors on frozen ponds or lochs. Simple equipment for the game included natural curling stones and primitive brooms. When slid across the ice by a player, the stone would quite often curve, or curl, as it traveled toward its target, a large bull’s eye. Players used brooms to brush snow and particles from the path of oncoming stones.
The first recorded evidence of the sport came from John McQuhin, a notary from Paisley, Scotland. A challenge between a monk and a representative of the local Abbot took place on a frozen lake regarding throwing stones across its surface. Eventually, the first curling clubs formed. Curling spread across North America and Europe with Scottish immigrants. In 1838, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club codified the first universal rules of curling. Four years later, members demonstrated the game for Queen Victoria. She loved the game and allowed the club to use "Royal" in its official name, changing it to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.
When Scottish immigrants came to America, they brought the sport of curling with them. It soon spread across Canada and the northern part of the United States. By the mid-19th century, curling clubs prospered in the states surrounding the Great Lakes and in New York City. The Victorians popularized the sport, and its popularity has grown even more today.
The first official international competition for the sport occurred during the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France in 1924. In 1932, the Olympic Committee downgraded curling to a demonstration sport. On April 1, 1966, the formation of the International Curling Federation helped to further legitimize the game to once again gain an Olympic spot. Nearly 30 years later, on July 21, 1992, the International Olympic Committee finally gave full medal status to both men and women's curling.
During the curling season which runs from October to March, it’s estimated that several million people play the game worldwide. In Canada, curling is the second most popular sport next to ice hockey. In the United States, it’s played in 25 states.
Although the game has undergone modernization with uniform equipment, sleek uniforms, and modern facilities with refrigerated ice, the traditions of good will and fair play continue. Curlers play to win but never to humble their opponents. A true curler would rather lose than win unfairly.
The spirit of camaraderie is what attracts many players to curling. At the close of tournaments, known as bonspiels, curlers often exchange their club buttons, embroidered badges, or pins for coveted like pieces from opposing team members. Each club’s piece is unique in size, shape, color and design.
In fact, many curlers also collect the sport’s hats, sweaters, and ephemera-related items. Each button, badge, or pin elicits lasting memories.
So what is this sport all about? Two teams of four players make up the game. The players are respectively lead, second, third and skip. Each player slides round stones across the ice. The stones are concave on the bottom and have a handle on the top. They are slid toward a fixed mark in the center of a circle, called a house. The circle is marked with concentric bands. The object of the game is to slide the heavy granite stones closest to the center.
Each player delivers two stones alternately with his opponent, beginning with the lead of each team and ending with the skip, who is also the team captain. One point is awarded for each stone that comes to rest nearer the tee than does any rival stone. A team can score up to 8 points with the 16 stones delivered in an end, or inning, unless no stone is in the house or the nearest opposing stones are equidistant, in which case there’s no score. Important strategies of the sport include blocking and knocking out an opponent's stones.
A distinctive part of curling is the use of a corn broom, or brush, by the partners of the deliverer to sweep the ice in the path of the oncoming stone. This is a tradition carried over from the days when people played curling on frozen lakes. It was necessary to clear the snow to provide a path for the oncoming stone. Curlers still sweep today to remove stray ice particles and smooth the surface of the ice, thus assuring the stone a longer ride.
Prior to the 1950s, most curling brooms were similar to household brooms. In 1958, Fern Marchessault of Montreal inverted the corn straw in the center of the broom. This style of corn broom was referred to as the Blackjack. Today, brushes have replaced traditional corn brooms at every level of curling.
A curler also uses a brush for balance during delivery of the stone and by the skip to indicate where the curler should aim. The ice is meticulously groomed to keep it completely level. Prior to a competition, a member of the ice maintenance crew sprays a mist of water on to the ice to create a pebbled surface that helps guide the stones. Each stone weighs an average of 40 pounds and cannot exceed 44 pounds. Its circumference cannot be more than 36 inches. The minimum height is 4½ inches.
Pins for curling events in different Olympics have saturated the collectibles market and are easy to find. However, curling pins aren’t limited to the Olympics. Pins from other curling competitions are also popular with players and collectors. Because of the sport's popularity in Europe, European and specifically Scottish pins are some of the most common. Canadian curling pins are also fairly easy to find.
Popular curling collectibles also include personalized curling ornaments and novelty items like curling stone keychains and coasters. Additionally, collectors value unique memorabilia such as custom curling signs and miniature curling stones.
Antique curling stones are another popular item. The oldest stones hail from Scotland. These can be more difficult to identify as curling stones often have no trademark or logo. An antique curling stone can cost as much as a new one.
The value of curling collectibles can vary widely based on rarity, condition, and demand. Values have increased significantly in the last 25 years. Items like vintage pins and memorabilia from significant events can fetch from $10 to $30 each while unique curling stones can sell for $50 to $150 for vintage ones to $200 to $700 for those from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. A new 2026 Milan Winter Olympics Curling Pin is selling for $10 to $20.
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