Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Famed 1905 All Blacks 'Originals' jersey has eye-watering guide price for Cardiff auction

By Liam Heagney
An extremely rare 1905 New Zealand All Blacks Originals tour to the UK jersey was on auction in Cardiff on Thursday (Photo: Mullock's Auctions)

An extremely rare 1905 New Zealand All Blacks “Originals” tour to the UK jersey is the highlight of a rugby memorabilia auction that starts at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Thursday. 

ADVERTISEMENT

The item is likely to be in great demand as a jersey worn by “Originals” skipper Dave Gallaher in the defeat by Wales – the only loss on that 35-match tour 114 years ago – was bought in 2015 by Saracens owner Nigel Wray for a staggering £180,000.

This latest jersey from the famed 1905 “Originals” tour to come to market won’t realise the same price Wray paid for his Gallaher shirt, but the lot will still be valuable as it has a guide price of between £20,000 and £25,000. 

Listed as lot 627 by auction house Mullock’s, the jersey has come from the collection of a former Ireland player, the late Basil Maclear who played 11 Test matches and died on May 24, 1915, while fighting in the World War One battle at Ypres.

Maclear incredibly faced the almost invincible New Zealand tourists in four matches on their tour, playing for Blackheath, Bedford, Ireland and Munster. He was one of 25 people inducted to the World Rugby Hall of Fame during ceremonies held at Wembley Stadium during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

(Continue reading below…)

Video Spacer

Mullock’s describe the world-renowned  jersey as “in the best condition in which we have seen one of these iconic garments, carefully and lovingly preserved. It retains all of its original features – including the silver fern badge, the distinctive padded yoke, the many eyelets and original lace to tie up to the neck if wished.

“It is, and clearly always has been, unnumbered, as was the case for many matches on this early tour and in early rugby generally. It has retained its colour, shape and quality of wool.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It is an outstanding example of this hugely desirable and collectable symbol of New Zealand rugby, the different black jersey of the most successful sports team not just of the year 1905 but arguably of all time.

“Such examples, as have come to market in the last five years, have demonstrated the growth in interest and value of these very rare items. This is a magnificent piece of memorabilia of global interest.”

The previously auctioned shirt purchased in 2015 by Wray was loaned to an exhibition at Twickenham last November which was visited by Steve Hansen’s touring All Blacks squad. That special display marking the England v New Zealand match coincided with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, the conflict that claimed the life of Gallaher, who is All Black No97.

Reflecting on his expensive purchase, Wray told RugbyPass in November: “I regard Gallaher as a genuine hero because he falsified his age to enlist so he could fight in World War One after the death of one of his brothers… I bid for the jersey against five New Zealanders and I’m surprised I got it because it is arguably the most important jersey in New Zealand sport.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The Maclear “Originals” jersey is the showpiece lot in this latest rugby auction, but two other items should pique the interest of New Zealand rugby followers.

Lot 615 is the last overseas Test jersey of All Black legend, the late Colin Meads. The certificate of authenticity, which is signed by Meads, states that this is his No5 jersey from the last Test against the Springboks in Johannesburg in 1970. The jersey has a guide price of £6,000 to £8,000.

Meanwhile, a twice-signed Grogg of Jonah Lomu in his New Zealand kit has a guide price of £280 to £320. Lomu signed the ceramic figure for a teammate during his stint at Cardiff Blues. 

A twice-signed Jonah Lomu ceramic Grogg is one of the items for sale at the Principality Stadium (Photo: Mullock’s Auctions)
ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 2 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

18 Go to comments
A
Adrian 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

18 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s 'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s
Search