The Blackham Ball

The Blackham Ball, a used brown leather cricket ball with silver plaque attached to the front, mounted on a large carved wood hand, which sits atop a large, wood, octagonal, conical pedestal. The ball and hand sculpture are covered by a glass dome. Windows have been cut out of each of the eight sides of the pedestal, displaying an explanatory panel and the names of the subscribers who financed the creation of the structure that displays the ball. The scrolled, shield-shaped plaque affixed to the ball is surmounted by two small, silver, crossed cricket bats, above which a pin protrudes, which probably once supported a silver cricket ball. The inscription on the plaque reads, "GRAND CRICKET MATCH / AUSTRALIA v. ALL ENGLAND. / PLAYED AT / KENNINGTON OVAL. / 28.th. & 29.th. August 1882. / Australia won by 7 Runs / WITH THIS BALL". The tips of each of the fingers of the carved wood hand are glued to the ball. The base of the wrist is glued to an octagonal base with a circular depression where a glass dome sits to protect the hand and ball. This base sits upon the larger conical, octagonal base. The inscription on the first panel reads, "THE/ BLACKHAM / BALL / This / Cricket Ball / was used in / The / International / Test Match / between / England / and / Australia, / played at / Kennington / Oval, / England, / on / August 28.th. & 29.th. / 1882. / Australia / scored / 63 and 122; / and England / 101 and 77, / Australia won / by 7 runs. / This was the / first occasion / on which / Australia / defeated / England / on English soil / in a / Test Match. / The Ball / was donated by / Mr. J.M. Blackham / the Australian / Wicketkeeper / in the match, / to the / Victorian Cricket / Association / in the season / 1915 - 1916 / as a contribution / to the funds / raised for the / Sick and / Wounded Soldiers / and by subscriptions / from the / Cricketing Public / realised / £617, / a World's Record / Price / for a / Cricket Ball. / Victorian / Cricket Association / Office-Bearers / 1915-1916. / President, / Hon. D. Mackinnon M.L.A. / Hon Treas. / Mr. H.R. Rush. / Chairman Executive Com. / Mr. E.E. Bean. / ... / Secretary: / John Healy." The other seven panels list the names of all the subscribers, approx. 617 individuals. Each panel is housed behind glass insets in the wood. This display is mounted on a circular platform. This larger pedestal is constructed of four types of native Australian wood: Queensland silky oak; blackwood; Queensland rosewood; and beanwood.