A piece of cricketing history was secured for posterity when a pristine ‘baggy green’ cap worn by Sir Donald Bradman during his final Australian Test series achieved a record-breaking auction price of A$535,900 (including buyer’s premium). The iconic headgear, worn during the 1947-48 home series against India, surpassed all previous valuations for caps belonging to the legendary batsman.
The cap’s remarkable provenance traces back to Bradman himself, who gifted it to Indian all-rounder Sriranga Wasudev Sohoni as a memento of their sporting camaraderie. For seventy-five years, Sohoni’s family maintained custodianship of the artifact under extraordinary conditions—preserving it in near-pristine condition while limiting viewings to brief, ceremonial family inspections once members reached sixteen years of age.
Lee Hames, Chief Operating Officer at Lloyds Auctioneers, revealed the cap had never been publicly exhibited prior to the sale. ‘This represents three generations of meticulous preservation,’ Hames noted. ‘Family members were only permitted five-minute viewings upon turning sixteen—such was the reverence for this artifact.’
The successfully auctioned cap bears dual inscriptions—’D.G. Bradman’ and ‘S.W. Sohoni’—on its interior lining, confirming its authentic connection to both cricketers. Its final hammer price of A$460,000 (A$535,900 with premium) exceeded the previous record set by another Bradman cap from the same series that sold for A$479,700 in 2024, despite that item showing significant sun fading and insect damage.
The anonymous winning bidder has committed to placing the cap on permanent public display at an Australian museum, ensuring future generations can appreciate this tangible link to cricketing history. The 1947-48 series itself marked multiple historic milestones: Bradman’s final home Tests, India’s inaugural tour as an independent nation, and a dominant Australian performance where Bradman averaged 178.75 with three centuries including his 100th first-class ton.