Rare honours cap from NZ's first rep rugby team up for auction before Bledisloe test

An honours cap from New Zealand’s first representative rugby team, found at the bottom of a wardrobe, is up for auction days before the All Blacks’ Bledisloe test at Eden Park.

New Zealand’s first representative rugby side was formed in 1884 and toured New South Wales, going unbeaten across eight fixtures, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that the national union decided to cap the 19 players who featured.

Webb’s will be auctioning one of the honours caps, with estate department specialist Callum Johnstone estimating it could be sold for as much as $10,000.

“We’ve put an estimate of $7000 to $10,000. There was a similar one in 2011 sold by another auction house for $17,000,” Johnstone explained.

“Because it’s so rare we’ve had to find some comparable prices and databases to base that off.”

The caps aren’t regular features at auction, with similar items appearing in 2011 and 2016, but Johnstone said this one made its way to them after one of their vendors found it while cleaning up.

A cap given to the players who represented New Zealand in 1884 is up for auction before the All Blacks take on the Wallabies at Eden Park. Photo / Webb's

“The person who owns this cap just got in touch with us; she said she’d been clearing out her father’s estate and found it in the bottom of a wardrobe.”

It isn’t clear who the cap beloonged to, but it is considered to be in very good condition, with no loose stitching and the label of the original hat maker, Horning’s, present and visible.

The cap features the more traditional black and silver colours of New Zealand representative rugby teams, but these were not worn by those who featured on the 1884 tour.

Instead, the team wore dark blue with a gold fern and the tour was organised privately by Dunedin businessman Samuel Sleigh and Christchurch barrister William Milton.

The 1884 side which toured New South Wales was New Zealand's first representative rugby team and was privately organised eight years before the national union was formed. Photo / Webb's

The players were called up from the existing provincial unions of Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago, scored 167 points across their eight games and conceded just 17 with a clean sweep of victories.

The national union was not established until 1892 and it wasn’t until 1926 when its management committee learned two members of the 1884 team who lived in Auckland had no representative caps.

The committee concluded that every person who represented New Zealand in rugby should have a cap, resulting in the caps being handed out more than 40 years after the tour.

Bidding closes on October 6, four days before the All Blacks take on the Wallabies at Eden Park, and the item is available to view in Webb’s showroom in Mt Eden.