Melbourne
The famous “baggy green” cap awarded to late Australian cricketing great Don Bradman on his Test debut in 1928 was sold to Australian businessman Peter Freedman for US $340,000 after it failed to sell at auction last week.
The selling price is not the seven-figure sum auctioneers earlier predicted. However, the second-highest price ever paid for a piece of cricket memorabilia, behind only the 1,007,500 Australian dollars paid at auction for Shane Warne’s Test cap earlier this year, The Guardian reported.
The founder of Rode Microphones, Freedman, plans to tour Bradman’s Test debut cap around Australia. He had earlier purchased a guitar used by Kurt Cobain for a whooping Rs9 million at an auction. “Sir Don Bradman is an Aussie legend,” Freedman said on Tuesday. “Not only as one of our greatest talents on the sporting field and one of the most revered athletes of all time but as an icon of Australian fortitude and resilience.”
“All too often, memorabilia such as this ends up spending its life on the wall of some boardroom or in some basement bar of a well-heeled sports fanatic. I want as many people to enjoy it as possible.”
“I have some exciting plans for the baggy green that will see it travel the country and shared with sports fans and cricketing communities,” the businessman shared.
Bradman, hailed as “The Don”, is known as one of Australia’s greatest captains and his remarkable consistency with the bat saw him retire with a Test batting average of 99.94, a mark that has not been overshadowed in 72 years. According to a news report by Reuters, earlier this year, former spinner Shane Warne, Australia’s leading test wicket-taker, sold his prized baggy green for more than A$1 million to aid bushfire relief efforts.—AFP
