A “baggy green” Test cap worn by Australian great Don Bradman sold for $390,000 at auction on Tuesday as collectors vied to own a rare piece of cricketing history.

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The tattered garment — almost 80 years old — was sun-faded, showed signs of “insect damage” and had a torn peak.

Auction house Bonhams said Bradman wore the cap during India’s 1947-48 tour of Australia, his last Test series on home soil.

In an auction lasting 10 minutes, a flurry of bidding saw hammer fall at a price of $390,000 with the total price coming in at $479,700 after auction fees and premiums.

Bonhams said it was “the only known baggy green” worn by Bradman during the series, in which he scored 715 runs in six innings at an average of 178.75, with three centuries and a double-hundred.

This particular cap was said to have been given to Pankaj ‘Peter’ Kumar Gupta, India’s Tour Manager in 1948.

Australia’s cricketers are awarded the dark green woollen caps before Test debuts and they are revered by players and fans alike, often the more battered the better.

Bradman retired with an all-time-high Test batting average of 99.94 and has been described by cricket authority Wisden as the greatest to “have ever graced the gentleman’s game”.

He died in 2001 aged 92.