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A baggy green cap once owned by fast bowling great Dennis Lillee is expected to fetch $15,000-$20,000 as prices – and sales – of the iconic cricket items soar.
Andrew Logan: The sacred life of the Baggy Green
The cap, owned by Perth businessman Kevin Parry who bought it at a testimonial dinner in 1982, is one of three baggy greens to be offered by sporting memorabilia auction house Leski Auctions in Melbourne next month.
“In any given year we might see three or four, but in the first eight months of this year we will have auctioned three times that number,” Leski Auctions managing director Charles Leski said.
Australia’s increasing interest in all things sport is fuelling the sales increase and the price they fetch.
“Over the last dozen years the number of sports collectors has grown hugely,” memorabilia expert for Leski, Max Williams told AAP.
“It’s all supply and demand.
“As there’s more collectors there’s more demand for the good things of sports collecting.”
Williams said a baggy green will fetch five times more today than it would just five years ago.
“I think they’ve jumped in price. Going back five years ago the average price for a baggy green was about $2,000, now it’s sort of $10,000 to $20,000.”
Sellers can thank former Australian captain Steve Waugh.
“It partly goes back to Steve Waugh and his obvious love for the baggy green and because the players revere it so much and you can only get one playing for Australia,” said Williams.
“They look wonderful, they’re easy to display and they’re pretty much in demand.”
Williams said many people didn’t realise they were sitting on such a gold mine until Allan Border’s baggy green sold in June for $29,000.
“Sometimes it can be scary if you’ve suddenly got something that’s not worth a couple of hundred dollars, it’s worth $20,000.
“You think `I don’t know if I want $20,000 lying around the house’.”
The other caps to be auctioned on August 18 were owned by Tom Veivers and Graeme Wood and have pre-sale estimates of $12,000-$15,000 and $10,000-$12,000 respectively.
Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said 168 baggy greens had been put up for sale over the past 16 years and the record price achieved was $425,000 for the 1948 Don Bradman baggy green sold in 2003.
“The public sale of baggy green caps is a relatively recent phenomenon,” said Young.
“For a long while it wasn’t common to see them sold at auction or private sale. It was very common to see them given away to fans or supporters or traded among fans.
“We prefer to think they would remain in Australia so that they can be enjoyed by Australian fans (when sold).”
Young agreed Waugh had much to do with the prices being realised.
“It’s probably a reflection of the significantly increased status of the baggy green cap since Steve Waugh’s time.
“It’s became an icon which symbolises Australian cricket and that’s a sign of the times.”
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