Highly sought-after ‘mother flame’ safety lamp from the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics, 15″ in height and 10″ in diameter, consisting of a large glass globe and a brass frame with lower portion featuring the Olympic rings and the upper handled section with plate bearing the multicolored Nagano Games emblem. The globe and frame house the interior lamp chimney and burner, with base featuring labels in Japanese characters. Olympics safety lamps are used during the torch relay as a back-up in case the primary torch goes out, with this particular lamp designed to protect the Olympic flame from its original lighting in Olympia as it made its way to Asian soil.
The Olympic flame arrived in Tokyo on December 23, 1997, and was soon split into three flames at a ceremony in the Yoyogi Athletic Park on January 4, 1998. They were taken by plane to three destinations—the Eastern Japan route (Hokkaido), the Pacific Ocean route (Kagoshima), and the Sea of Japan route (Okinawa)—and, upon entering Nagano Prefecture from the north, south, and east, the flames were reunited in Central Square on February 6th. The relay lasted a total of 51 days, traveled over 3,400 km, and featured over 6,900 torchbearers. A magnificently rare safety lamp for an Olympic ‘mother flame.’
