Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football, Golf & Sporting Memorabilia

William Gilbert Grace. Gloucestershire & England. 1865-1908. A limp calf brown leather wallet which once belonged to Grace with his name ‘W.G. Grace’ stamped into the surface of the wallet. It was apparently acquired by a gardener to a relative of Grace and then by descent to a Charles Hemus, English born, who moved to live near Canberra in Australia. The wallet measure 4”x6.5” closed, with quite heavy wear externally with odd small stain, internally in good condition. It is sold with a signed letter of provenance from Hemus confirming this and a copy of an article Hemus wrote for the Inverall Times, a regional newspaper. The letter of provenance from Hemus reads ‘The wallet is as it was found in my wife’s Mothers belongings after she had died. To the best of her knowledge my wife said that an uncle who was a gardener to a relative of W.G. Grace passed it on to my wife’s mother’. In 2004, Hemus gave the wallet to Ken Piesse, an Australian cricket journalist and writer. The auctioneer has discovered that the wallet was sold at Christie’s Auctioneers in November 2005 as lot 270. An historic item having apparently once belonged to the ‘Champion’