Peter Snell's iconic singlet (left) from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics is for sale.

Peter Snell labelled a $50,000 tag on his double Olympic gold medal winning black singlet as "a ridiculous price"

More than 50 years after being worn by Snell at the Tokyo Olympics, the iconic piece of New Zealand sporting memorabilia is going under the hammer.

Snell was the athletics star of the 1964 Games, where he won gold and set a new world record in the 800 metres and also won gold in the 1500 metres – a double victory never repeated at the Olympics.

The singlet will be auctioned at Auckland's Cordy's auction house on June 21.

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The lot also included a signed, first-edition copy of Snell's 1965 autobiography, No Bugles, No Drums, with a total value between $30,000 and $50,000, the auctioneers said.

Snell told Radio New Zealand on Friday he would rather see the singlet go to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame and questioned the singlet's monetary value.

"It's absolutely ridiculous, I don't know if they have got it right. I might pay a couple of hundred (dollars)," Snell said when told the price expectation.

Snell, 77, who now lives in the United States, had little recall of the singlet.

"I'd actually accused my ex-wife of dumping it before she left New Zealand to join me in the United States and she said 'oh no no no I never did that', so it might have been one of those things I have given to be auctioned off for a charity and someone bought it way, way back," he said.

Snell said many things had "gone astray" as he transitioned from being an athlete into student life.

He had frequent requests to provide items for fundraising auctions "and I can imagine I gave it away for a specific charitable cause".

The black singlet features his race number "466", below another black cotton panel with an embroidered "New Zealand" and the silver fern icon.

The manufacturer's label was stitched with Snell's name tag, "Snell, PG", the auctioneers said.

The singlet had "some signs of age, minor staining and deterioration evident", and would be sold under glass within a presentation frame, together with three photographic reproductions of Snell running at the Olympics.

The singlet was being sold by the family of a former schoolboy running champion who had been inspired by Snell's feats, auctioneer Andrew Grigg told NZME.

The singlet's path from Snell's Olympic victory into its current owner's possession was not known.

Snell, is regarded as one of the greatest middle-distance runners in history, and was dubbed New Zealand's "athlete of the century".

He won gold and set a national record in the 800 metres at the Rome Olympics in 1960, before his double-gold win four years later.

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