An All Blacks "Originals" rugby jersey belonging to 1905 tour captain Dave Gallaher has sold at auction for a world record 180,000 pounds ($276,000).
The price was confirmed by auction house Rogers Jones & Co, which wouldn't disclose the identity of the buyer on Friday.
The previous record for a rugby jersey was reported to be 21,500 pounds for another shirt from the 1905 tour.
The auctioneers expected Gallaher's jersey, which is black with grey leather shoulders and features the silver fern prominently on the left chest, to sell for up to 40,000 pounds ($61,000).
The New Zealand team that toured Europe and North America in 1905-06 won 34 of 35 matches, scored 976 points and conceded 59.
The first team to become known as the All Blacks lost only to Wales 3-0 in controversy, and after that match in Cardiff, Gallaher reportedly exchanged jerseys with Wales captain Gwyn Nicholls. Nicholls took the jersey to his family's laundry business, and later gave it to Thomas Mahoney. It was kept in the Mahoney family for generations.
Ben Rogers, from the auction house, said the jersey was the most significant sport-related item the business had ever offered.
"Wales versus The Originals, in Cardiff, is regarded as one of sport's greatest matches," Rogers said.
There was a memorial match in Belgium last weekend in honour of Gallaher, who was killed in action at age 43 in the First World War in 1917.
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