A baggy green Test cap worn by Australian cricket legend Don Bradman has been bought for AU$438,550 (US$287,000) by the country’s National Museum, which called it an iconic slice of history.
Skipper Bradman, who famously averaged 99.94 in Test matches, sported the cap during England’s 1946-47 Ashes tour of Australia, the first to be played between the two sides after World War II.
The federal government contributed half the cost.
National Museum director Katherine McMahon said that with cricket far from people’s minds during the war, the Test series represented a sign of hope and optimism.
“Sir Donald’s baggy green marks the life of Australia’s most celebrated batsman and reflects a time when sporting heroes gave Australians hope, following the heartbreak and hardship of World War II,” she said late Friday.
“We are delighted this national treasure has found a home here at the National Museum of Australia for all Australians to enjoy.”
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The cap, bought from a private owner, is one of 11 worn by Bradman known to exist.
One that he used during India’s 1947-48 tour of Australia, his final Test series on home soil, fetched AU$382,000 last year.
Arts Minister Tony Burke said the purchase safeguarded an important piece of national history.
“You’d be hard-pressed to meet an Australian that hasn’t heard of the great Donald Bradman, arguably the greatest cricketer of all time,” he said.
“Now to have one of his iconic baggy greens in the National Museum of Australia means visitors will have the opportunity to get up close and connect with our sporting and cultural history.”
The cap will go into the National Historical Collection in Canberra alongside other Bradman memorabilia, including an autographed bat from the first Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham during the 1934 Ashes series.
Bradman, described by cricket authority Wisden as the greatest to “have ever graced the gentleman’s game”, died in 2001 aged 92.
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