A rare piece of Australian sporting history has fetched a record price at auction in the Gold Coast, with a baggy green cap worn by Sir Donald Bradman selling for $460,000.
The cap is the highest-priced cap ever sold that was sported by the cricketing great, which he wore during Australia’s 1947–48 Test series against India.
Once a 16.5 per cent buyer’s premium of $75,900 is added, the total sale price reaches $535,900.
Bradman gifted the cap to Indian cricketer Sriranga Wasudev Sohoni, whose family preserved it for more than 75 years before deciding to put it up for auction.
Lee Hames, chief operating officer of Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers, said the cap had been carefully protected across generations.
“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.”
The cap was sold to an anonymous bidder and will now be kept on public display at an Australian museum.
Featuring the names “D.G. Bradman” and “S.W. Sohoni” inscribed inside, the cap remains in good condition – a notable contrast to another Bradman baggy green that sold in 2024 for $311,000 after being sun-faded and insect-damaged.
The final price surpasses the previous record holder: another baggy green from the same 1947–48 series, which sold in 2024 for $479,700, including buyer’s premium.
The sale is a reminder of a different era in Test cricket. In Bradman’s day, players were awarded a new baggy green for each series they played, which contrasts to the modern tradition, where only one cap is issued on Test debut.
Sir Donald Bradman played 52 Test matches for Australia, finishing with a batting average of 99.94 – nearly 40 runs higher than any other player in the history of the game.
Sohoni died in 1993 at the age of 75, but his connection to one of cricket’s most significant chapters lives on through the cap.
The 1947–48 series holds special significance, marking India’s first Test series as an independent nation and Bradman’s final home series before retirement.
Image: Seven News
