Official 'Type 1' torch from the historic Mexico City 1968 Summer Olympics, which is comprised of white cast metal with a plain unadorned handle, measuring 17.25″ in length and 4.25″ at its widest point. The white cast metal body is fully grooved and the top features "Mexico 68" twice around the rim. The robust torch bears overall scattered wear, marks, and small dents, instances of pitting (apparently from the casting process), and some soiling. The torch relay recreated the route taken by Christopher Columbus to the New World, beginning on August 23, 1968, in Olympia, Greece. It notably traveled through Columbus's birthplace in Genoa, where he set sail from Palos in Spain, and the first land he reached in San Salvador. In all, there were 2,778 torchbearers on the 13,546 km route.
