For Better Oar Worse

Thirty million dollars can buy a Van Gogh, a private island, or—self-proclaimed antiques representative Paul T. Marino hopes—a pair of black walnut trophy oars.

Harvard’s crew team scored the oars in 1852 after beating Yale in the first athletic competition between the two schools, reports the Los Angeles Times. But it wasn’t just the precursor to a greater rivalry; amazingly, the Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H. race was the first intercollegiate sporting competition in the United States.

The oars came into the possession of the Marino family in 1981, when Paul’s father discovered them while cleaning out the basement of a building in Medford he had recently purchased.

“Soon after the discovery of the trophy oars, my father, my sister Connie and I all went to the Harvard and Yale library archives and learned of their great historical significance,” Marino writes in an e-mail.

As the Times reported, most sources consider the asking price absurd. Marino, however, is optimistic about finding a buyer.

“There is no doubt in my mind that these historic trophies will be sold,” Marino writes. “The 1852 Harvard Yale race will always be known as the first and greatest intercollegiate sporting event of all time.”

Did your rich uncle recently bite the bullet? Then check out the prized oars at http://www.firstharvardyalerace.com.