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It has been a long and winding journey but a piece of New Zealand's most iconic sporting memorabilia will soon be on public display.
Moves are under way to get the blazer Peter Snell wore at the 1960 Rome Olympics - where he shocked the world with gold
in the 800m - displayed at Auckland International Airport.
For years the blazer was thought to be lost until former Auckland Mayor and Empire Games athlete and team manager Colin Kay learned it was hanging in Aucklander Victor Yee's wardrobe.
Yee had answered an ad selling furniture at Snell's Mt Albert home, "some time in the mid-70s".
Peter and his wife Sally had just separated - Snell was already in Texas - and while negotiating a price for bedroom furniture, Yee asked if there was anything from Snell's collection he could have.
Sally went inside, returned with the blazer, and told Yee it was his for a price he can't remember but "it was several hundred dollars".
"I didn't even negotiate.
"I just gave her what she asked for," Yee said. "I always had a great regard for Peter... so I just treasured it."
Former race walker Morrie Hinton, a friend of Yee, told Kay about Yee's bounty and he set about trying to find a public home for it.
"Victor had a very good attitude about it," Kay said. "I tried to get it down to [a museum in] Dunedin but he didn't want it going that far."
After a meeting involving Yee, New Zealand Olympic Committee representatives and sprinter Barry Robinson (Snell's Rome roommate), Yee donated it to the NZOC on condition a home was found for it in Auckland so his family could see it.
"It's such an iconic piece of sporting memorabilia," NZOC museum curator Charles Callis said. "For us the blazer is more than a piece of fabric. It's the cloak of our Olympians. It's a very powerful instrument."
Secretary-general of the NZOC Barry Maister said he had spoken to Snell and the three-time Olympic gold medallist was happy to have his blazer displayed.
Peter Webb, executive director of Webb's Auctioneers, said it was almost impossible to put a value on.
"If you were insuring it you wouldn't insure it for a penny less than $10,000 but if you put it up for sale, who knows what price you could get? If you had two wealthy sports enthusiasts competing for it you could go right up to $50,000."
Yee, however, said he would never consider selling it.
