A baggy green cap worn by Sir Donald Bradman in a series against India in 1947-48 has been sold for $460,000 at a Gold Coast auction, fetching the highest price for a cap sported by the great Australian batsman.

Bradman had given it to Indian cricketer Sriranga Wasudev Sohoni, whose family preserved it for the past 75 years.

Lee Hames, chief operating officer of Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers, said the family had looked after the cap carefully.

Bradman’s baggy green to go under the hammer

A baggy green worn by Sir Donald Bradman during the 1947-48 series against India has gone to auction.

“That’s over three generations under lock and key,” he said. 

“If you were a family member you were only allowed to look at it when you were 16 years old for five minutes.” 

It was sold to an anonymous bidder and will be kept on display at an Australian museum.

The cap, which has the names “D.G. Bradman” and “S.W. Sohoni” inscribed on the inside, is in good condition. 

Another cap worn by Bradman was sun-faded and insect-damaged when it fetched $311,000 at auction in 2024.

Greatest batsman in history

Widely regarded as the greatest batsman in history, Bradman played 52 tests with a batting average of 99.94, nearly 40 runs higher than any other player.

The price paid for the cap, once a 16.5 per cent buyer’s premium of $75,900 is added, totals $535,900, beating the previous record holder, a baggy green from the same series — against India in 1947/48 — that was sold in 2024.

The day a Bodyline bowler found himself pipped by pomegranates

Flying fruit pips are less menacing than the cork and leather cricket balls that Harold Larwood hurled at Australian batsmen during the infamous Bodyline series, but a showdown between the English fast bowler and a disgruntled crowd that was allegedly armed with pomegranate seeds is part of the rich story of Ashes acrimony.

That cap was bought for $479,700, including the buyer’s premium, at auction.

Back in Bradman’s day, a baggy green cap was awarded for each series they played — a contrast to the present day where only one cap is handed out on Test debut.

Sohoni died in 1993, aged 75.

The 1947/48 series was notable for being India’s first as an independent country and Bradman’s last on home soil.

Bradman made it a memorable one, scoring 715 runs — including his 100th first-class century — as the Australians romped to a 4-0 series win.

AFP/Reuters