Submitted by aarAdmin on Tue, 07/04/2023 - 00:00
The extensive cricket memorabilia collection of former Australian fast bowling great the late Alan Davidson proved irresistible to collectors during Melbourne-based Abacus Auctions three-day sale from June 28-30 when three of his baggy green Test caps and one belonging to former West Indian cricket captain Sir Frank Worrell (1924-1967) sold within or above their catalogue estimates.
Apart from sporting memorabilia, the auction, with 77 per cent of the 2360 lots changing hands for a hammer price of $1,192,799, included stamps, postal history, coins and banknotes, artefacts and other collectables.
The three baggy greens – from the 1956 Ashes tour of England (lot 2657), the 1957-58 South African tour (lot 2660) and the 1959-60 tour of India and Pakistan (lot 2664) totalled $32,000 – with the last one the highest return at $11,500.
Sir Frank Worrell’s cap (lot 2714) was the one he wore during the famous Brisbane Tied Test of December 1960, part of the West Indies 1960-61 Australian tour, and it went under the hammer for $18,000.
The bat Davidson used during the same game (lot 2668), with which he scored 124 runs in the two innings and took 11 wickets – becoming the first player to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in the one Test match – sold for $2900 against a catalogue estimate of $800.
The champion fast bowler had also managed to procure West Indian batting wizard Brian Lara’s gloves with which he scored his maiden Test century of 277 in 1993 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (lot 2713) – the lucky buyer picking them up for $3200, three times the catalogue estimate.
Another favourite memorabilia item was the signed billiard cue Walter Lindrum presented to Davidson after he sunk a ball to defeat the wold champion during a Melbourne game that included Australian Test captain Richie Benaud.
Complete with metal case and listed as lot 2482, the cue sold for $2100 on a $500 estimate.
The Papua New Guinean tribal artefact collection owned by German Ottmar Maier, who lived and worked in the country from 1958 to 1982 before settling in Australia, was another strong performer with many of the items changing hands.
Of particular note was a Sepik ambunti full-length male figure shaped as a double meat hook from a men’s spirit house (lot 1753) that sold for $1350 and another Lower Sepik standing male entitled “Protector of Gardens/Punisher of the Lawless” (lot 1737) which brought $750.
A Western Sepik slit drum (lot 1735) – another item to be carved from a single piece of wood – sold for $600, while an horrendous “man catcher” (lot 1683) used to capture and enslave members of opposing tribes, tripled its catalogue estimate at $725.
