Four of The Don's Test bats on auction market

Four highly significant bats used by Sir Donald Bradman during his Test playing career, in which he scored 6996 runs in 52 Tests at an average of 99.94, will be auctioned from 2.30pm Thursday at Mossgreen 926 High Street, Armadale. 

The most important is his first Test bat used in the 1928 series between England and Australia and signed by both teams.

Despite only scoring the princely sum of 19 runs (18 in the first innings and one in the second), the bat is estimated to sell for between $120,000 and $150,000.

In 1930, Bradman donated the bat to a competition to raise funds for the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children – won by student George Lethbridge.

The bat then passed down through the Lethbridge family until sold in 2008 at Leski’s Auctions and placed on display at the National Sports Museum at the MCG.

The collector who bought the bat has managed over a 20-year period to find four that Bradman actually used in Test matches but now is forced to sell his collection.

The other three include the bat Bradman used during his first Test in England (estimated between $80,000-$100,000), the bat from the 5^th Test at the Oval in 1930 ($30,000-$40,000) and another match-used bat ($60,000-$80,000).

The auction also contains a large collection of cricket caps from the late Keith Attree. A former policeman, he was a room attendant at the WACA for 15 years before retiring two years ago.

At 2.30pm the day before, Mossgreen is holding its Quarterly Collectors Auction Series that features a large collection of theatre items including a life-size puppet of Asian the lion from the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Australian tour.