Dave Gallaher 1905 All Blacks jersey sells for £180,000 Published duration 9 October 2015

image copyright Wales News Service

An All Blacks rugby jersey dating back 110 years has been sold for £180,000 at auction.

Dave Gallaher wore the shirt during the 1905 tour of the British Isles and swapped it with Wales captain Gwyn Nicholls after a match.

It went under the hammer at Rogers Jones & Co in Cardiff on Friday where it had been expected to sell for £20,000 to £40,000.

The buyer was based in the UK and bid over the phone.

After getting the shirt, Nicholls subsequently gave it to a van boy at his laundry business, Thomas Mahoney, whose family have kept it ever since.

David Rogers Jones, of Rogers Jones & Co, said: "We're totally astonished. The bidding started off at about £35,000 and lasted for about 10 minutes, going up and up and up.

"We were hoping to break the previous world record for a rugby shirt of £22,000 and have certainly done that."

A bronze statue of Gallaher, who died in 1917 in Belgium while serving in World War One, was unveiled outside the home of New Zealand rugby, Eden Park, in 2011.

media caption Ben Rogers Jones of auctioneers Rogers Jones & Co was in charge of the sale

image copyright Wales News Service

image copyright Wales News Service