A big day in the calendar

by Brian Sanderson

The latest item in John Ward’s series will appear this evening.

Friday was the first day of the Knights cricket auction, which lasts three days and comprises 1,469 lots of memorabilia. I did not receive the catalogue until about a week ago, so planning my budget was a challenge. For Yorkshire collectors like me, there is always something new on the market.

The first day started at 10:30 and consisted of 538 lots. The first I bought was an MCC banquet menu dated February 20, 1923, for a dinner in Durban. There was, of course, a Yorkshire player in that squad: the great medium-fast bowler George Macauley, of whom more later. The date of the dinner corresponds with the deciding Fifth Test at Kingsmead, which England won by 109 runs to take the series 2-1.

I am a member of the Sheffield Cricket Lovers Society. On October 18, 1980, they held a reunion dinner for the 1953 Ashes Winning Team, and on Friday I was able to purchase a menu signed by the players, who included the first professional England captain Sir Leonard Hutton, one of my heroes, and also Brian Johnson and Nicholas Parsons.

Another thing that caught my eye was a small black autograph book containing, among other signatures, the 1905 Australian cricket team. It also included autographs of numerous England and county players. The signatures had been collected by a lady from Huddersfield, and was sold for £1,500. After added charges (commission, VAT and internet charges), it would have cost about £2,000, which was above my budget.

During the morning there was a section of items from the collection of Percy Fender, the Surrey and England all-rounder who played from 1910-1935. One lot that interested me was two letters from Herbert Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire and England opener, who wrote to him in 1946 about retiring at the end of the season. These I succeeded in winning.

In the afternoon there was a cabinet card of the England team who toured Australia in 1886-87. Among the party was George Ulyett, another great Yorkshireman. This went for £1,700, so I could not afford it, but it was great to see the image, because it is so rare.

Another section was from the collection of Ken Shuttleworth, who played for Lancashire, Leicestershire and England, and included all his shirts and sweaters, together with the medals he won during his career. I am sure a Lancashire memorabilia collector would be pleased to buy one of these lots.

I am not a collector of cricket equipment, but one interesting bat on Friday was dated between 1740-1750 and valued at £10,000, but went unsold. In such cases the item is usually held over to a later auction.

Another section was “Cricket Ceramics and Metalware.” One item interested me here: a silver salver presented by George Macauley to Melton Vasy, a well known racehorse trainer in the 1920s. The salver was engraved on the top border with the title “Yorkshire X1 1925” and below with the eleven signatures of the Yorkshire team. It was hallmarked “Sheffield 1924.” Of course I purchased it. George had an interesting life and death, but that’s for another time.

The last three lots were the most interesting, and had been talked about for days. They were from the collection of JT Hearne, the Middlesex and England cricketer (1888-1923). The first was two exercise books describing the England tour of 1897-98. The estimate in the catalogue was between £2,000 and £3,000, but it eventually sold for £4,600 plus commission—unfortunately beyond my budget again. But I did purchase the silver medal given to Hearne—see the photograph atop this post—when he got the first and only Test Match hat trick in 1899 at Headingley against the Australia. This was the first Test Match ever played at Headingley, about a five-minute walk from my house.

On Saturday, weather permitting, my plan was to watch some league cricket, and on Sunday to take in the third day of the Knights auction, including some old scorecards. I’ll let you know how that went shortly.

Brian Sanderson is an ACS member. He serves on the Yorkshire Cricket Archives Committee. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please either respond to the email in which you received it, or leave a comment below.