Baggy green cap worn by Don Bradman sells for $390,000

It was sun-faded and had some insect damage but that didn’t stop the baggy green* cap once worn by Australian cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman selling for $390,000.

An Australian bidder paid top dollar for the cap Bradman wore during India’s first Australian tour in 1947-48, after the buyer competed in a fierce auction at Bonhams auction house in Sydney.

“The interest in the cap was quite extraordinary,’’ said auctioneer Alex Clarke.

“I have had people calling up from all over Australia saying they have an old bat from the 1942 series or whatever but there is nothing like a baggy green.

“It created a lot of publicity*, not just around Australia but internationally.’’

The price was not the highest paid for a Bradman Test cap. There are believed to be nine baggy greens once worn by the cricketing great in circulation*.

A newly released book, The Baggy Green, lists Bradman’s highest selling cap as the one he wore during Australia’s iconic* 1948 tour of England, which once sold for $468,000.

Baggy green cap prices have increased quite a bit since the 1990s, when the then captains of the Australian team, Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor, celebrated its iconic heritage*.

The first time a Bradman cap was auctioned, it went for just $7,500 in 1995. Most baggy greens sell for less than those worn by Bradman, although a Victor Trumper* cap sold for $95,000 two decades ago.

The Baggy Green, written by authors Michael Fahey and Mike Coward, claims that out of 174 sales from 2008 to 2023, the average price for a baggy green was $17,825.

“When you look back, nearly all of his caps have pulled that sort of price,’’ Mr Coward said of the latest auction sale. “It is about what would have been expected. It would be a wonderful thing to have. At a time when the game is changing so quickly, it is wonderful to see Bradman’s name still resonates* so strongly.’’

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GLOSSARY

• baggy green: the iconic cap worn by the Australian test cricket team, made from dark green myrtle wool and with the Australian coat of Arms on the front. The baggy green can be traced back to the early 1900s in origin
• publicity: attention given to something by the media
• circulation: in the hands of the public
• iconic: representative of a certain culture, time or place
• heritage: history
• Victor Trumper: an Australian cricketer from the early 1900s who was considered one of the greatest batsmen from the golden age of cricket
• resonates: is something very meaningful

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QUICK QUIZ
1. What price did Don Bradman’s baggy green most recently fetch at auction in Sydney?
2. What is the most expensive baggy green of Bradman’s to have ever sold?
3. When did baggy green prices start to go up in value?
4. How much did the first Bradman baggy green to be auctioned sell for?
5. What was the average price for a baggy green from 2008 to 2023?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What would you buy?
If you could buy something that a famous person owned, what item would you chose? Who would you choose and why? Your person can come from any time in history and there is no limit on the money you can spend. Write paragraphs explaining your choice.

Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History

2. Extension
Imagine that you are a reporter for Kids News. Your next story is an explainer (an explainer is a story that literally explains something that kids might not know about). Your topic is Don Bradman. Your purpose is to help other kids understand why he is such a legend. Use information from the story and your research skills to help you.

Time: allow at least 45 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, History

VCOP ACTIVITY
Creative vocabulary
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any ‘said’ words with more specific synonyms?

Have you outdone yourself and used some really great vocabulary throughout your writing? Firstly, well done. Secondly, let’s ensure everyone can understand it by adding a glossary of terms. Pick three of your wow words and create a glossary for each word to explain what it means.