British sisters find 160-year-old sports treasures in their garage

While tidying up the garage, a pair of sisters accidentally found a rare cricket and boxing souvenir. These things are worth thousands of dollars.

Nicky Lane is 69 and Karen Douglas is 68. They found these incredible collections of sports collections in several dusty suitcases in their late mother's house. They were stunned.

Both sisters are retired civil servants. Their mother died in early 2021, at the age of 92. They then began to clean up the house, but left the garage at the end, as both were afraid of spiders.

As the family gathered to clear the garage, they were surprised to find sports treasures that had not been found for decades, including an old suitcase hidden in the back filled with memorabilia related to legendary and former England and Essex cricketer Johnny Douglas (1882-1930).

"While we know there are some photographs of Johnny Douglas in the world, we don't know where those photographs are or how many have been preserved," Nikki said. The suitcase was filled with cricket memorabilia. ”

However, far more than that, there are many more treasures. In a chest hidden behind a cupboard, there is one of the most valuable items in the collection—a silver wine glass awarded in 1860 to tom Sayers (1826-1865), the famous British professional boxing champion without boxing gloves.

Richard Madley, who now lives in Wiltshire, is one of the world's top sports collectors. He was asked to work with expert Charlie Ross to assess the value of the collection.

"For me, doing things like this is all about hobbies," Richard said, "and Charlie and I sat at the dinner table with Nicky and Karen, examining every piece of the collection. ”