The “baggy green” worn in 1928 on the Test debut of Australia’s greatest batsman, Donald Bradman, has sold for A$450,000 (US$340,000), a record for one of the cricket legend’s caps.
Bradman, who retired with an all-time highest Test batting average of 99.94, wore the cap during the first match of his Test career against England.
Pickles Auction House yesterdray said that the baggy green had been bought by businessman Peter Freedman, who is the Australian founder of RODE Microphones, after initially failing to sell under the hammer.
Photo: AP
“After negotiations, the final bid and highest offer was the A$450,000,” Pickles executive manager Gavin Dempsey said. “It’s still, for a Bradman cap, on record the highest price paid on the open market.”
In June, Freeman spent US$6 million on a guitar played by grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain, making it the most expensive guitar in history.
Freedman said that he would put Bradman’s cap on display around Australia, similar to global tour plans he previously announced for the Nirvana frontman’s guitar.
“All too often, memorabilia such as this ends up spending its life on the wall of some board room or in some basement bar of a well-heeled sports fanatic,” Freedman said in a statement. “I want as many people to enjoy it as possible.”
Bradman had gifted the cap to his neighbor, accountant Peter Dunham, who local media reported was jailed in May for eight years over a multimillion-dollar fraud.
Pickles said the cap was sold on behalf of an insolvency firm seeking to recoup some of the investors’ losses.
The latest sale exceeds the A$425,000 paid for the cap worn by Bradman in his final Test in 1948.
Bradman died in 2001 at the age of 92.
However, it fell well below the A$1 million paid for spin legend Shane Warne’s baggy green when it was auctioned off to help Australian bushfire victims earlier this year.
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