Bradman cap tipped to break auction record


Bradman's 1948 'Invincibles' Baggy Green
Estimate: $600,000 - $750,000

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Posted December 2, 2008
Article from: smh.com.au

FIVE years ago, the $250,000 Tim Serisier won on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire allowed him an indulgence he'd only ever dreamed about. Now he feels it's time someone else took on the burden, and so Australia's most iconic item of sporting memorabilia is about to go under the hammer.

The auctioneer Charles Leski admits the vendor's timing could be better, but has still placed an estimated price of $600,000 to $750,000 on the baggy green cap worn by Don Bradman on the 1948 "Invincibles" Ashes tour.

A Bradman bat sold recently for a world record $145,000.

"I defy anybody to tell me anything in Australian sport that is more important or has a higher status," Mr Leski said yesterday, ahead of the December 15 auction. "This is the single most valuable item we've ever auctioned - sporting, Australiana, across the board."

The cap is accompanied by a memo signed by Bradman in 1996 that both verifies its authenticity and hints at its colourful life, declaring that "on his twelfth birthday I gave Richard Robins one of my Aust. XI caps".

Richard Robins's father, Walter, played 19 Tests for England and was described by Bradman as his "best pal in the cricket world" - despite bowling the great man with a googly to which Bradman offered no shot in the 1930 Trent Bridge Test

Serisier, a 47-year-old retired banker from Coffs Harbour, bought it prior to auction in 2003, amid a campaign to return it to Australia. He paid $425,000, and was hit with a $42,500 GST bill because it was a collectible item.

Peter Hanlon

Original Article Here

Daryl Timms
Posted December 2, 2008 12:00am
Article from: heraldsun.com.au

THE baggy green cap Sir Donald Bradman wore in his last Test match is expected to become Australia's most expensive piece of sporting memorabilia in two weeks.

Melbourne auctioneer Charles Leski estimated the 1948 Invincibles cap would fetch between $600,000 and $750,000 when it goes under the hammer on December 15.

This is the first time the cap has been put up for sale in Australia after it was bought for $430,000 in London by retired Sydney merchant banker Tim Serisier in 2003.

The cap had been in England for nearly 50 years, after Bradman gave it to his English godson, Richard Robins, for his 12th birthday in 1954.

The boy's father, Robert W.V. Robins, was a former England captain, who played 19 Tests between 1929-37.

A letter of authentication Bradman wrote for Robins Jr in 1996 is sure to add value to the cap.

Robins revealed he was a "mad keen" Australian fan as a boy, but the closest he had got to a baggy green was a green cap his father had swapped with a South African player.

Robins cut out an Australian emblem from the 1953 tour itinerary and stuck it on the cap, which prompted a visiting Bradman to remark: "Hey, you can't have that. You have to have a proper Australian cap."

The following year the most famous name in cricket sent Robins the 1948 touring cap for his birthday.

Leski said the most expensive sporting memorabilia sold in Australia was the Shirley Strickland collection -- which included her three Olympic gold medals, one silver and three bronze -- that fetched $460,000 in 2003.

Bradman's first Test bat fetched a world record $145,000 when sold by Leski in September. One of his 1946-47 caps fetched $185,000 at public auction five years ago.

Leski said Bradman's 1948 cap would be the most important piece of sporting memorabilia ever offered in Australia.

"We are delighted to have it but we are a bit anxious whether it will stay in the country and whether it will sell in the current economic climate," he said.

"Does anyone want it? Absolutely. There's no doubt at all that any museum or private collector would want it and it's just a question about how people are feeling about spending $500,000, $600,000 or $700,000 in today's environment."

Leski said the reserve was $450,000, or 75 per cent of the lowest estimate of $600,000.

The cap's owner was controversially slugged with GST when he brought the cap back into Australia in 2003, which bumped his outlay up to about $470,000.

Leski said Serisier - who won $250,000 on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire - thought the cap should be in Australia.

"He had nothing better to do with his money at the time and has carried it for five years. But he thinks it is time for someone to put their hands up as custodian of this important piece of Australian history," Leski said.

"As an auctioneer I shouldn't show favouritism, but I hope it stays in Australia."

The cap is accompanied by several items of correspondence from Bradman to Robins and his father.

Leski said players were presented with only one cap for the 1948 tour, when the Australians were dubbed "The Invincibles" after becoming the only touring Ashes side to be undefeated.

Original Article Here

It's better than shares

Cameron Noakes
Posted December 3, 2008
Article from: theage.com.au

IF YOU picked up the papers yesterday you would have noticed that Sir Donald Bradman's 1948 cap is up for grabs and you should be able to snap it up for the bargain-basement price of $750,000.

As I keep explaining to my wife, why have 700-odd K sitting around doing nuthin' when you can have an old, green cap? She just doesn't get it.

She says crazy stuff like: "What about Rio Tinto shares? You can get them pretty cheap." Man, she's so last year, isn't she?

Anyway, I'm guessing that most of you, like me, don't have a spare 750 grand at the minute so the cap is out of our league.

However, don't get down on yourself; for about $700,000 less you could be in the running for a piece of the Don's "correspondence" when the Charles Leski auction starts on December 15.

The correspondence is between our Don and a Norfolk man, Nigel Ward, who contacted Bradman after researching his family tree in the 1990s.

Ward traced Bradman's roots back to the 16th century and two villages, Bradenham in Norfolk and Withersfield in Suffolk and, according to the item description he found Bradman's earliest known relative, "Edmund of Bradenham", who married a local woman.

"He was obviously a poor labourer and had no surname, so they called him Bradenham. Over the years the name evolved to Bradman," the description says.

This particular lot comprises of "49 hand- and type-written letters from Bradman dating from July 1990 to February 1999" but it is particularly interesting because it gives us an insight into the mind of the great man just before he died.

Bradman talks of "paying a visit to Withersfield in 1930 to see an old lady who claimed relationship but it was never proved … I took a very poor view of the suggestion that my ancestors were deported for sheep stealing."

On politics, he writes: "Life has been exciting in England with the downfall of Mrs Thatcher. I hope her successor is the right man for the job."

On England cricketers: "The English cricketers have started their Aussie tour, so far not impressive, and I think Australia will prove too strong."

On Bodyline: "It was a bitter series, no fraternisation between the teams, (Bert) Oldfield was hospitalised after a terrible blow to the temple, (Bill) Woodfull received an awful crack over the heart."

On Geoffrey Boycott: "Boycott is so engrossed by Boycott and I greatly dislike people who have tickets on themselves. Humility is one of the finest virtues of a human being."

On England cricketers, again: "I'm appalled at the ineptitude of England. There must surely be better players in the county sides … the batting in the main, lacks character and the bowling lacks venom."

And he also proves he has an eye for talent: "Our boy (Shane) Warne has done wonderfully well — after all he is only 22 with little experience, yet he is economical and looks the best prospect for his age that we have had."

There are also other revealing snippets of information on his thoughts on unemployment in Australia, South Africa's return to Test cricket, one-day cricket, drought conditions, his stroke and the death of his wife.

All letters are dated and signed and the majority are on "Sir Donald Bradman" letterhead.

According to a newspaper article in 1998 in the Eastern Daily Press (England), the researcher Ward was a cricket umpire and he said: "I wrote via the Australian Cricket Board and must confess I never expected a reply from this very private person as he has never discussed his personal life in public."

He said their writing relationship developed and he "once suggested (to Bradman) writing a book but (Don) said if it was published he would never write to me again".

That's our Don, all right. The auction house says the minimum bid for this lot is $37,500 and should fetch something between $50,000 and $70,000.

What, still too much?

OK, I'VE found something a bit cheaper for you at the auction. It's a jigsaw puzzle. But not just any jigsaw; it is "The Berwick Series of Autographed Jig Saw Puzzles of Famous Cricketers. No. 1 Don Bradman", by Berwick's Toy Co. Ltd., Liverpool. Apparently it is complete and includes an insert with a profile of Sir Don and it could be yours for about 200 bucks. And just to prove that we will buy nearly anything to do with the Don, you can also bid for a Bradman "leadlight window", which contains the image of Sir Don preparing for a cover drive (the minimum bid for this one is $1875). And they say the marketing for Star Wars is over the top.

What's that … not a Don fan?

WELL, that's because you're probably a Paul "Blocker" Wilson fan and I have found just the thing for you this Christmas. Leski is also auctioning off virtually every cricket item ever worn by "Blocker" and if you think the Don's baggy green is outrageously expensive, don't worry, because for about $400 you could be the proud owner of Blocker's Australian one-day cap. Not only that, there's Blocker's Australia A one-day cap, his Prime Minister's XI cricket cap, you can even get his South Australian cap (if you're after some headwear to paint the house in).

Oh come on, you remember Paul, don't you? He played one Test for Australia in 1998 and he took no wickets and his highest score was 0 not out.

Actually, that's a bit cruel: Blocker played 11 one-day games for Australia and was a useful right-arm fast bowler for SA before finishing his career with Western Australia in 2003-04. However, I'm still not sure why anyone would want to buy a WA one-day jumper with his famous No. 41 on the back. Then again, for 120 bucks it's a cheap jumper.

Following legends can cause number of concerns

I LIKE the idea of great players inheriting numbers from former great players and I don't mind the idea of a club identifying a future champion and giving that player a prestigious number — as was the case the other day when Melbourne gave Jack Watts Norm Smith's No. 4.

As I said, I like the concept and I have never understood why Essendon would give James Hird's No. 5 to Brent Stanton or the Swans would let Ben Mathews wear Plugger's No. 4.

But I reckon you have to be fair dinkum about it. If Watts is feeling some pressure about it all he can take comfort that it was also Ben Holland's number and Craig Ellis' number before that. Of course, both of these players were discards from other clubs before they got to Melbourne, so yes, it's a great honour to wear the Demons' famous No. 4 … sort of.

Meanwhile at West Coast, Ben Cousins' No. 9 is set to be dusted off and handed to a player this weekend and Nick Naitanui is in the box seat (if he wants it).

The club will offer it to the players from its 2008 squad and then the top draft pick, as is customary, has the choice of the lowest number available. Call me superstitious, but if I was Nick I would take the next lowest number but, what the heck, they're just numbers, aren't they?

Original Article Here