Last Updated on August 8, 2020 by Netropolitan Museum
Lake Placid, New York, boasts a long and storied history of playing host to the highest levels of winter sports events. Most notably, the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games. In the middle 1960s, the tiny Adirondack village rolled out the red carpet for the nation’s premiere skating event, the 1965 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, contested at the 1932 Olympic Arena. There, Peggy Fleming won the second of her five U.S. titles while the event also saw future stars John Misha Petkevich and Janet Lynn both compete at the junior level where Petkevich placed fifth and Lynn ninth.
Only a few figure skating championship event pins over the years have been cast from sterling silver, an alloy often used in jewelry-making. The 1965 U.S. Championships pin is among the finest of these pins and features a central figure skating pair in relief contrasting with a red enamel fill around its circumference. The event name, “National Figure Skating Championships 1965,” is enclosed in the red outer band while the host club name, “The Skating Club of Lake Placid,” is displayed above and below the skating pair. The pin is stamped “STERLING” on the reverse. Its simple, elegant design commemorates the Lake Placid event in stellar fashion.
Only a few figure skating event pins over the years have been cast from sterling silver … the 1965 U.S. Championships pin is among the finest.
The pin shown here has developed a cool patina over the past 55 years and exhibits tarnishing at its center, highlighting and emphasizing the lettering and skaters. Although the tarnishing could easily be removed and the pin restored to a near-new look, reason dictates that the history represented in the patina should be preserved.
Enjoy Main Street USA. 1965.
1965 U.S. Championships
