Don Bradman: Australian Baggie Green hat sets record fee at auction

A ‘baggy green’ cap worn by Don Bradman during a match against India in 1947-48 has sold for A$460,000 (£232,000) at auction, achieving the highest price for a cap ever worn by the legendary Australian player.

Bradman had given the hat to Indian cricketer Sriranga Wasudev Sohoni, whose family had cared for him for 75 years.

Australian players wear the green baggy cap in Test cricket.

In the Bradman era, players were given a new cap for each series, but now Test debutants are given a cap that they keep for their entire career.

The hat given to Sohone by Bradman, one of 11 hats he wore known to exist, has never before been on public display.

“That’s more than three generations under lock and key. If you were a family member, you were only allowed to look at it when you were 16 for five minutes,” said Lee Hames, chief operating officer at Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers, which organized the auction.

The hat was sold to an anonymous bidder and will be displayed in an Australian museum.

The hat, which has “DG Bradman” and “SW Sohoni” inscribed on the inside, is in good condition.

The price paid for the cap, once the 16.5% buyer’s premium of A$75,900 is added, totals A$535,900, which is greater than the previous record holder, a green Loose from the same series sold in 2024.

This hat was sun-faded and insect damaged, but sold for A$479,700, including buyer’s premium, at auction.

Bradman, who died aged 92 in 2001, is widely considered cricket’s greatest batsman of all time, having averaged 99.94 during his 52-match Test career.

The series against India was his last on home soil and he scored 715 runs in six innings at an average of 178.75 – with three centuries, including his 100th first-class ton, and two hundreds – as Australia won 4–0.

India was also playing in its first international cricket tour as an independent nation.

Sohoni, the all-rounder who played four Tests for India, died in 1993 at the age of 75.