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Companies => Off-the-shelf companies => Hunts County => Topic started by: Bats_Entertainment on October 27, 2020, 09:15:29 PM

Title: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Bats_Entertainment on October 27, 2020, 09:15:29 PM
Just been looking at the Geoff Boycott auction. Seems he had his bats made by County for a much larger part of his career than I had realised.

https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/sir-geoffrey-boycott-collection/lots/1867?SortBy=LotNumber&Page=1&PageSize=130&ShowAll=true#  (https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/sir-geoffrey-boycott-collection/lots/1867?SortBy=LotNumber&Page=1&PageSize=130&ShowAll=true#)
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Bats_Entertainment on October 27, 2020, 10:19:20 PM
Interesting (to me at least) too, that there appears to have been a Gray Nicolls/ County overlap period in the late 60s and early 70s.  Perhaps there was less contractual obligation back then? Or simply less visibility?
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: SD on October 28, 2020, 12:09:27 AM
Placing players under contract is a more recent development I understand but I don't know when it became common place.

One of the GNs is marked as being borrowed mid tour from another player has he broke his last bat.  That is one thing you can't see happening to a modern player
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Bats_Entertainment on October 28, 2020, 01:23:47 AM
Placing players under contract is a more recent development I understand but I don't know when it became common place.

One of the GNs is marked as being borrowed mid tour from another player has he broke his last bat.  That is one thing you can't see happening to a modern player

I can remember, in county cricket, if a player broke his bat, he would often see out the over using the non-striker's bat before receiving his replacement from the pavillion. Simpler times.

But players were clearly paid money to endorse bat brands in pre-sticker times.  Many of Boycott's  bats are, unsurprisingly perhaps,  'Geoff Boycott Autograph' models.

Love the way the faces are falling off most of them.

And interesting to see County bats had 'Hunts shoulders' even back in 1967!
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: t2ylo on October 28, 2020, 08:44:19 AM
I was hoping to buy his stick of rhubarb or perhaps his mums pinny but they appear to have been retained in his private collection  - perhaps stored in the corridor of uncertainty

This is why I don’t post often.
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: SD on October 28, 2020, 09:37:34 AM
I can remember, in county cricket, if a player broke his bat, he would often see out the over using the non-striker's bat before receiving his replacement from the pavillion. Simpler times.

But players were clearly paid money to endorse bat brands in pre-sticker times.  Many of Boycott's  bats are, unsurprisingly perhaps,  'Geoff Boycott Autograph' models.

Love the way the faces are falling off most of them.

And interesting to see County bats had 'Hunts shoulders' even back in 1967!

I recall Mike Brearley mentioning that he lent a bat to Dennis Compton to play on an exhibition match and worrying that Compton would break it as it was the only one he had. Going back a bit further than that, Neil Harvey toured England in 1948 with a bat from the team kit bag of his club side as he didn't have one of his own.  These days the average club bowler seems to have a selection of bats to pick from!
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Bats_Entertainment on October 28, 2020, 10:29:07 AM
Fred Trueman borrowed a bat from the colliery club bag when he made his debut for Yorkshire because he did not own one. (Apologies if I've posted this before.)

Compton is said to have often picked up the nearest team-mates bat and used it.

Graeme Fowler, in one of his books, complains of being stuck a bat that wasn't very good on tour in India in the 1980s. It might even have been the one he got 200 with. Point being, nowadays a Test player would undoubtedly bin such a thing. (Or sell it on Ebay.)
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: six and out on October 28, 2020, 05:28:43 PM
This article talks about the items up for sale, there are some amazing things on offer, some true cricket memories.

https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/banner/sir_geoffrey_boycott_auction_collection_glorious_dose_nostalgia.html (https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/banner/sir_geoffrey_boycott_auction_collection_glorious_dose_nostalgia.html)
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Bats_Entertainment on October 28, 2020, 06:00:05 PM
The estimates for the sweaters and the caps seem ridiculously low!

A fair bit of this stuff has been in the museums at Headingley and Lord's. I hope it finds its way back there. Might it have been public-spirited for him to have permanently donated it? It's not like he needs the money. Maybe there was a falling out?
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Mattsky on October 28, 2020, 06:03:39 PM
I was wondering why he's selling up too.
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Jimbo on October 28, 2020, 06:53:56 PM
The estimates for the sweaters and the caps seem ridiculously low!

A fair bit of this stuff has been in the museums at Headingley and Lord's. I hope it finds its way back there. Might it have been public-spirited for him to have permanently donated it? It's not like he needs the money. Maybe there was a falling out?

Making up some lost earnings from his TMS work?
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Bats_Entertainment on October 28, 2020, 07:05:44 PM
Saddens me a little to think he'd sell his England cap for a couple of grand.
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: SD on October 28, 2020, 07:26:54 PM
The estimates for the sweaters and the caps seem ridiculously low!

A fair bit of this stuff has been in the museums at Headingley and Lord's. I hope it finds its way back there. Might it have been public-spirited for him to have permanently donated it? It's not like he needs the money. Maybe there was a falling out?

I thought a lot of it looked over priced but it is hard to judge I guess what the demand is for some of this stuff.

I think it is a shame too that those bits on public display won't remain that way.  It is not as if he is short of cash or has a family to provide for
Title: Re: Geoff Boycott auction.
Post by: Bats_Entertainment on October 28, 2020, 08:08:25 PM
He does have a youngish daughter.