{"id":438214,"date":"2026-01-26T08:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438214\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T08:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:39:08","slug":"crickets-holy-grail-for-460000-don-bradman-baggy-green-sells-at-auction-australia-cricket-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438214\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket\u2019s \u2018holy grail\u2019 for $460,000: Don Bradman baggy green sells at auction | Australia cricket team"},"content":{"rendered":"

A baggy green cap worn by the Australian cricket great Sir Donald Bradman<\/a> has sold for $460,000 to an anonymous buyer at a Gold Coast auction.<\/p>\n

Bradman wore the cap during the 1947-48 series against India \u2013 his final home Test series before retiring in 1948 with a career batting average of 99.94, earning him the reputation as cricket\u2019s greatest batter.<\/p>\n

Bradman gifted the cap to the Indian cricketer SW Sohoni during the series and it remained with his family for generations, never exhibited publicly.<\/p>\n

It was sold on Monday afternoon by Lloyds Auctions.<\/p>\n

The Sohoni family displays Bradman\u2019s cap before auction. Photograph: Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers<\/p>\n

Lee Hames, the chief operating officer of Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers, called the cap a \u201choly grail of cricket\u201d before the bidding commenced.<\/p>\n

Hames said at the auction that Sohoni\u2019s \u201cdying wish was to have the cap return to Australian shores\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been hidden for 75 years, that\u2019s over three generations under lock and key,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you were a family member you were only allowed to look at it when you were 16 years old for five minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Lloyds Auctions said the cap would now remain in Australia and \u201cwill be put on display at a prominent museum\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sohoni and Bradman\u2019s names are inscribed in the interior of the cap. Photograph: Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers<\/p>\n

On the inside of the cap, the names \u201cD.G. Bradman\u201d and \u201cS.W. Sohoni\u201d are inscribed.<\/p>\n

Bids for the baggy green started at $1, garnering significant interest from buyers in person and online from around Australia, India and the UK \u2013 ultimately selling for $460,000 before the addition of a 16.5% buyer\u2019s premium.<\/p>\n

\u201cCherished in the family collection ever since, this cap links you to Don Bradman\u2019s invincible era and a memorable exchange with the Indian squad,\u201d the cap\u2019s auction description said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia dominated, winning 4\u20130 with one match drawn \u2026 part of the post-World War II revival of international cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series marked India\u2019s first Test tour of Australia as an independent nation.<\/p>\n

The Indian cricket team in Australia during the 1947-48 series. Photograph: Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers<\/p>\n

Hames said Bradman remains \u201cone of Australia\u2019s defining national figures\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA baggy green he personally gifted, carefully preserved by the same family for 75 years and still in remarkable condition, is a piece of history with genuine national importance and one rarely seen outside private hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The baggy green is adorned with the Australian cricket coat of arms, with \u201c1947-48\u201d embroidered underneath.<\/p>\n

There are 11 known Bradman baggy greens in existence \u2013 from an era when Test cricketers wore a different cap for each series, unlike modern Australian players.<\/p>\n

Bradman\u2019s first cap, from his 1928 debut season<\/a>, sold for $450,000 in 2020. The baggy green he wore on his last tour, to England in 1948, went for $425,000 in 2003 \u2013 later resold for about $400,000 in 2008.<\/p>\n

In 2024, his \u201csun faded and worn\u201d baggy green sold at auction for $479,700<\/a> \u2013 a record high for a cap worn by Bradman.<\/p>\n

The record price for a baggy green belongs to Shane Warne, which raised $1,007,500 for the Australian Red Cross bushfire appeal<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A baggy green cap worn by the Australian cricket great Sir Donald Bradman has sold for $460,000 to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-438214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}