Squaw Valley 1960 Winter Olympics Torch Up For Auction

There's a super cool piece of sports history going up for sale ... one of the rarest Olympic torches ever made is hitting the auction block.

Get a load of this ... the official torch from the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, CA is going to be sold to the highest bidder this month via RR Auction ... and it's expected to fetch at least $500,000.

This Olympic torch was designed by legendary Disney Imagineer John Hench ... and it features 3 Olympic ring cutouts around the bowl, with a circular legend reading, "VIII Olympic Winter Games."

The torch is also emblazoned with the Squaw Valley Games emblem between two branches ... plus another legend reading, "Olympia To Squaw Valley," signifying the torch's planned route from Greece to California.

Folks who were around back then may recall ... the torch was actually lit in Norway -- the Olympic Committee botched the lighting ceremony in Greece -- and was transported by car to Oslo and then Copenhagen, where it was put on a plane and flown to Los Angeles.

Once in California, the torch runners relayed it north through Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, San Francisco and Sacramento before arriving in Squaw Valley.

Team USA skier Andrew Mead Lawrence, accompanied by 8 members of the National Ski Patrol, carried the torch at the Opening Ceremony ... and the flame was passed to skater Kenneth Charles Henry, who did a lap around the ice at Blyth Memorial Arena before igniting the cauldron in which the flame would burn throughout the Games.

More than 64 years later, the torch's burner wick remains intact ... though there is some minor scuffing on the bowl and handle.

After the Game, the California state employee who was responsible for the safety of the torch runners held on to the torch ... and now it's about to change hands.