Don Bradman baggy green sold for AU$460,000

GOLD COAST (Web Desk) - The baggy green cap that Sir Donald Bradman wore in India's maiden series as an independent nation has been bought for AU$460,000 (US$320,000) by an anonymous buyer at a Gold Coast auction.

Bradman wore the cap during his final home series against India in 1947-48, before gifting it to their opening bowler, Ranga Sohoni, whose family had kept it in their possession ever since, without previously exhibiting it publicly.

It was sold on Monday by Lloyds Auctions in Queensland, with Lee Hames, the company's chief operating officer, describing it as a "holy grail of cricket".

"It has been hidden for 75 years, 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."

Though Sohoni played just the first Test of India's 4-0 series defeat, and did not take a wicket in their innings loss, he nevertheless bowled their first ball of the match, and hence the first of the post-colonial era.

The inside of the cap is inscribed with the names "D.G. Bradman" and "S.W. Sohoni", while "1947-48" is embroidered beneath the Australia crest. It is one of 11 known Bradman baggy greens, from an era when players wore different caps for each series.

Bradman's first cap, from his debut in 1928, sold for Aus$450,000 in 2020. Shane Warne's baggy green holds the record for such an artefact, having raised Aus$1,007,500 for the Australian Red Cross bushfire appeal in 2020.