Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football & Sporting Memorabilia
Held on Friday, Saturday & Sunday
10th, 11th & 12th April 2026
Lot 25
Estimate: £70/100
Hammer: £55
George Bean. Nottinghamshire, Sussex & England 1885-1898. Albert Craig. ‘Cricket Rhymester’ 1891. Original double sided card of a poem in four stanzas by Craig titled ‘Good Old Bean. Secured 145 runs not out against Notts, in his usual slashing style at Brighton, 9th July, 1891. In the second innings Bean got 92 runs’. In the final line Craig states ‘Men like Bean will make Sussex rise higher and higher’. Advertisement to verso for F.H. Ayres cricket equipment. The card measures 5”x8”. Minor foxing, otherwise in good/ very good condition.
Bean was a member of Lord Sheffield’s tour to Australia in 1891/92 and played in all three Tests. In the 1891 County match against Nottinghamshire at Hove Bean carried his bat for 145no in Sussex’s first innings and came close to becoming the second player (after W.G. Grace) to scoring centuries in both innings, being dismissed for 92 in the second. Sussex fell short in the run chase to lose by 144 runs.