INDEX antiques Batting order
Those with a deep love for cricket and even deeper pockets are willing to shell out almost any amount of money to get their hands on a rare piece – be it bat, ball or bail
Words Jennie Buist Brown Photographs Victoria & Albert Museum, London
years, famously said: “Cricket as a passion is distinctly contagious.” He may be right, although as someone who would rather spend a sunny summer’s afternoon almost anywhere other than watching 13 grown men in white trousers whacking a ball about on a village green, I am yet to be convinced. Maybe it’s because I’m a Scot and we don’t grow up playing the game.
D
One thing I do know though is that the passion for cricket memorabilia knows no bounds among collectors. Those with a deep love for the game and even deeper pockets are willing to shell out almost any amount of money to get their hands on a rare piece – be it bat, ball or bail. In a Christie’s auction in 2005 the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) purchased a collection of cricket scorebooks written by Samuel Britcher – the MCC’s fi rst offi cial scorer. The records of matches played between 1795 and 1806, recorded in four books, sold for a combined eye-watering total of £324,000. And Don Bradman’s baggy green ‘Invincibles’ tour cap from the 1948 tour of England was sold in Australia for $400,00 (approximately £175,375). But don’t despair. If you are new to collecting cricket memorabilia there are still plenty of items whose prices won’t bowl you over. There are many sources of cricket memorabilia – from dedicated shops to regular auctions, websites and lucky fi nds at car boot sales and fl ea markets. The fi rst written reference to cricket
The INDEX magazine
www.indexmagazine.co.uk
avid Frith, who has been writing about cricket for more than 40
The early 1800s saw the fi rst publication of the “Bible of cricket” the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack and this is certainly an area worth concentrating on. The founder John Wisden (1826- 1854) created the longest running sports annual in history. The most sought-after category is the fi rst issue covering 1864-1875. Given
is in a 1598 court case in Guildford over a disputed piece of common land when 59-year-old John Derrick testifi ed that he and his school friends had played ‘creckett’ on the site 50 years earlier when they attended the Free School. Derrick’s account proves that the game was being played in Surrey circa 1550 although it is thought that the game originated in the dense woods of the Sussex and Kent Weald. It was a children’s game initially and
wasn’t played by adults until around 1611. There is a record of two men in Sussex being prosecuted that year for playing cricket on Sunday instead of going to church. So what to collect and where to start? County cricket memorabilia is often high on a collector’s agenda as items are specifi c to one particular county therefore narrowing down the search. Popular county memorabilia includes blazer pockets, club photos, cricketing attire, dinner menus and autographs. Autographs are very collectable with an enormous range in value. For example an Edmund Peate signature may fetch £500 and a James Lillywhite £600 whereas Don Bradman a lot less – it seems that some cricketers were prolifi c signers!
the time, perseverance and resources you could aim to eventually assemble a full set of these volumes. In 2009 at a Bonham’s auction, a complete run of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack for the years 1864 to 1984 was sold for £90,000, far beyond its estimated price of £50,000 to £70,000. And I couldn’t fi nish without mentioning bats. The bat used by Don Bradman during the 1946-47 Ashes series sold for $65,000 (approximately £42,484) at Ravenswick Auctions in December 2012. But a good rummage around any antiques centre or fl ea market nearly always results in the discovery of an old battered bat or two. Perhaps they’re not bats that have helped bring the Ashes home, but humble well-loved bats that, could they talk, would whisper of long, summer afternoons when the sound of leather on willow rang out across village greens.
DID YOU KNOW?
The MCC has remained the custodian of the laws of cricket whilst Lords cricket museum still contains the most celebrated collection of cricket memorabilia in the world. From its early origins, cricket is now played in more than 100 countries around the world.
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