A mid eighteenth century circa 1740-1750 cricket bat of light wood, possibly willow, with right-handed curve and distinctive hook-shape to base, no shoulders, made by William Pett of Sevenoaks with two impressed marks ‘W. Pett 4’ on top of handle and ‘Will. Pett Sevenoaks Kent’ on the base of the bat. Auction of Cricket, Wisden Cricketers' Almanacks, Football and Sporting Memorabilia including the David Frith Collection- 2 Day Auction

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Auction of Cricket, Wisden Cricketers' Almanacks, Football and Sporting Memorabilia including the David Frith Collection- 2 Day Auction (#10) 06/08/2023 10:30 AM BST Closed
Starts Ending 06/08/2023 10:30 AM BST

Auction Info

Lot #429A mid eighteenth century circa 1740-1750 cricket bat of light wood, possibly willow, with right-handed curve and distinctive hook-shape to base, no shoulders, made by William Pett of Sevenoaks with two impressed marks ‘W. Pett 4’ on top of handle and ‘Will. Pett Sevenoaks Kent’ on the base of the bat.

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Lot closed - unsold

Estimate: £30,000 - £40,000

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Description

A mid eighteenth century circa 1740-1750 cricket bat of light wood, possibly willow, with right-handed curve and distinctive hook-shape to base, no shoulders, made by William Pett of Sevenoaks with two impressed marks ‘W. Pett 4’ on top of handle and ‘Will. Pett Sevenoaks Kent’ on the base of the bat. The overall length of the bat is 38.25”, the width at the centre of blade is just over 4” and the maximum width of the base of the bat is 2.5” and weighs almost 2lb. The curved shape of this bat and the type of maker’s mark are consistent with it being made in the mid-18th century. There are some heavy indentations to the bat face, the result of its being used for a hammering action of some sort, quite possibly the putting in of stumps otherwise it is in remarkably fine condition with the twine grip still preserved on the long handle. It makes an interesting comparison with the 18th century oak bat made by Thomas Edmonds, formerly in the MCC collection, and included as lot 665 in Christie’s MCC Bicentenary Auction of 1987. This was more than double the weight at 5lb. However, it had the maker’s name stamped on the base in similar fashion and was essentially the same shape, exactly the same length and with the same form of surviving twine grip. Immense weight is not a necessary characteristic of surviving 18th century bats. The oldest known bat, inscribed “J. C. 1729” and kept at the Oval, weighs only 2.4lb (see Wisden Book of Cricket Memorabilia p. 229). Hugh Barty-King in Quilt Winders and Pod Shavers 1979 (p46) refers to another surviving bat made by Pett himself weighing 2.2lb. A very rare and early cricket bat previously sold by Christie’s Auctioneers as lot 133 in their sale of 1998. Sold with the late vendors research notes giving further information on the bat.

William Pett (1710-86) is the earliest recorded cricket bat maker in Kent. His bats, very different from modern ones, were designed to look more like hockey sticks. John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, purchased eleven of his bats in 1766 at two shillings and sixpence each. One of Pett’s bats, made in 1745, is now in the local Sevenoaks Museum. William Pett is one of the few recorded makers of bats prior to the 19th century. G.D.Martineau in ‘Bat, Ball, Wicket and All’ (1950) records the names of two London bat makers, Christopher Thorn and George Wheeler. Then adds: ‘The names of the other bat-makers of the 18th century which we know are Wm. Pett and his son Thomas, both of Sevenoaks, John Small, senior, of Petersfield, William Staples of Sevenoaks, and Charles Budd of Brighton..’. There is much more detailed discussion of Pett, who died in 1786, in Barty-King’s Quilt Winders and Pod Shavers, pp. 44-47. It is noted therein that ‘By the 1770’s William Pett must have been making cricket bats on a reasonably large scale, for they seem to have been readily available for purchase in retail shops in London and probably elsewhere’. Evidence for their popularity comes from Fanny Burney’s (an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright) diary where she quotes a letter from a friend in the west country, Mrs Rishton, asking her ‘”to buy Mr. Rishton two cricket bats made by Pett of 7 Oaks. You will get them at any of the great toy shope, the maker’s name always stamp’d upon them’.
Provenance (given by Christie’s in 1998): This bat and the preceding lot (another bat) were sold by Christie’s in 1998 were removed from Hollin Hall, Near Ripon, North Yorkshire, following the death of the last direct descendant of the Boynton Wood family. The bats, together with other artefacts dating from the 18th century, were found earlier this year behind a very large George III mahogany breakfront bookcase; as opposed to being deliberately put there, they must have fallen down from the top of the bookcase which was installed during refurbishments to the house in the later part of the century; the side panels to the bookcase meant there was no way of recovering the bats unless the enormously heavy bookcase was itself moved. The bats may have belonged either to John Wood of Copmanthorpe and Hollin Hall (died 15 November 1778) who assumed the name of Boynton, and is the person who commissioned the bookcase while aggrandising the family mansion; or to his younger brother Richard Wood (1712-97) who succeeded him as heir to the Hall. Richard Wood married Elisabeth, daughter of Hutton Perkins of Mill Hill, Middlesex, in 1745, and the couple had 3 sons (and 2 daughters) who would also have been old enough to play cricket before the century ended. However, the existence of the bats, lying in the darkness between the back of the bookcase and the wall behind, must have been forgotten for well over a hundred, perhaps even closer to two hundred years.
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Auction of Cricket, Wisden Cricketers' Almanacks, Football and Sporting Memorabilia including the David Frith Collection- 2 Day Auction (#10) 06/08/2023 10:30 AM BST Closed Starts Ending 06/08/2023 10:30 AM BST

Auction of Cricket, Wisden Cricketers' Almanacks, Football and Sporting Memorabilia including the David Frith Collection- 2 Day Auction (#10) 06/08/2023 10:30 AM BST Closed
Starts Ending 06/08/2023 10:30 AM BST