The Osian's - Cricketing Heritage Auction

Following on the success of the first cricket memorabilia auction at the Cricket Club of India in September last year, leading auction house Osian's is back with its second cricket auction on 4th July at the same venue. Titled 'Icons', the auction will see going under the hammer precious memorabilia from 6 of world cricket's biggest ever names, Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Richard Hadlee, Dennis Lillee and Brian Lara.

Besides, a number of other very interesting pieces of memorabilia and artefacts will also go under the hammer, which include Abbas Ali Baig's 1959 England tour Blazer, the 1932 set of the Cricketer Magazine edited by Plum Warner, a number of India-England tour souvenirs between 1930-1950 and a series of items from the 1983 Prudential World Cup.

Importantly, the Bradman lot is more than sizeable and should attract many a collector and sports buff. Belonging mostly to the personal collection of eminent sports journalist and author, Gulu Ezekiel, who has painstakingly put together this collection over the last three plus decades, the Bradman stuff includes autographed postcards, cigarette cards, signed pictures, team sheets and the like. Each of these items are of serious value to the collector and should attract many an aficionado to the auction.

The auction catalogue, edited by Osian's chairman Neville Tuli is an interesting read with essays by Prof. Brian Stoddart on Sir Gary, David Dunstan and Tom Heenan on Sir Donald, Nalin Mehta on 'Iconicity in Sport', Deep Dasgupta on Brian Lara and Gulu Ezekiel on Sir Richard Hadlee.

In England, cricket memorabilia auctions are an established business. Every two months we see such auctions happening across the country with close to a 1000 lots being auctioned over two days. Tim Knights auctioneers alone conduct 5-6 such auctions a year and some of them are specialised Wisden Cricketer Almanac auctions as well raising serious money from collectors and dealers.

In India on the other hand the memorabilia market is still in its infancy. Except a handful of people who invest in the craving for artefacts, Indians are not serious collectors of memorabilia related to the passion they love to consume. There is a serious disconnect here. We claim we love cricket and claim that India is the nerve centre of the world game. Yet there is little regard for history of the game and its precious artefacts. Cricket museums in India are few and far between and the ones that are there are not often replenished from time to time.

Ranjitsinhji and his ilk find many takers in the UK and Australia but in India the Jubilee Book of Cricket is still a very rare commodity. Unless there is a culture of appreciating the game and its history, we will always struggle against the British and the Australians. The understanding of the sport has to be all pervasive and not restricted simply to consuming spectacles like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The first Osian's auction, which raised close to 40 lakhs INR was a success. It was proof that sports memorabilia does have a market in India and slowly but surely we are waking up to this responsibility of valuing the past. Just as we appreciate art and cinema and are willing to pay big monies for paintings and film stuff, we should do the same for cricket. A rare Ranjitsinhji letter or a 1959 Abbas Ali Baig blazer is no less valuable than a canvas by a renowned artist. The woollen jacket with an embroidered pocket, which has been consigned by Abbas Ali Baig is estimated to sell between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh on 4th July.

The memorabilia is also being exhibited at an Opening Auction Preview at the Tao Gallery in Mumbai from June 20 to June 29.

Two things stand out in this auction- first the number of lots have gone up compared to the first auction in September 2013. Second, the thematic coherence this time round is much improved pointing to the fact that significant progress has been made in the interim months. Will we see big spending at the second cricket memorabilia auction and will we see new buyers trying to make this passion their own? For if that happens Indian cricket will turn richer in the process.