IN PICTURES: Wolves legend Bert Williams' football shirts are for keeps
They were worn for England by one of the region's most decorated football stars more than half a century ago, and now they have changed hands for hundreds.
Kit worn by Wolves legend and England cap Bert Williams, who died last year age 93, has gone under the hammer in Ludlow, giving fans of footballing heritage the chance to snap up a piece of history.
Williams, who was nicknamed "The Cat" in his playing days because of his amazing agility and reflexes, spent most of his playing career at Wolverhampton Wanderers where he won the League Championship and FA Cup.
His 20-year career saw him turn out 420 times for Wolves and 24 times for England, playing in the World Cup in 1950. At the time of his death in January 2014 he was the oldest living England international.
At Ludlow Racecourse yesterday, bidders went head-to-head to bag his match-worn garments, including two iconic inter-league yellow goalkeeper's jerseys.
One, full of holes, was from 1949/1950, with a Scottish FL Match badge, fetched roughly what was expected at £190.
Speaking during the auction, Ben Jones, consultant at the Church Stretton-based auctioneers Mullock's, holding the sale, said it was a little moth-eaten around the edges.
"That's why it's slightly lower priced than perhaps it would be - but we have got a couple of guys online who are keen on this."
But the other yellow jersey, with a "Danish match 1953 The Football League" badge complete with England's three lions, went for £480 - about £200 more than expected.
Meanwhile an outfield England jersey of Williams' worn in several internationals, went for £300.
Mr Jones said it was odd for Williams to have an out-field shirt more commonly worn by the other players.
"As a goalkeeper he wouldn't have had that given to him normally, but he had it to wear underneath his goalkeeper's shirt," he said.
Finally, an international shirt badge from 1954 stating "Germany 1954" which was removed from the shirt in a game that England won 3-1, went for £180.
Mr Jones said the badge was most likely on its own, unattached to a shirt, not because it was removed as a trophy, but because it was common practice.
"Back then, every time they changed shirts, they had to take the badge off so that they could re-attach it to the new one - it's quite a funny idea nowadays," he said.
An England blazer, issued by the Football Association for the victory internationals of 1945/46, failed to reach it's guide price of £400-£500, however.
Mr Jones said it was a co-incidence that these items were being sold following Williams' death last year, as they were not being sold by his family.
"These belong to a very close friend of Bert Williams', who bought them off Bert many years ago," he said.
"He has decided to downsize and sell some of his things.
"We have sold some of Bert's stuff on behalf of his family before, though and it went very well - things like his passports and tickets for various world cups and various programmes belonging to him.
"But they were not high-end items like these.
"These are more personal, he wore these things and played in them."
Born in Bradley, Bilston, Williams began his career with Walsall in 1937 and made 28 appearances for the Saddlers before the Second World War interrupted his career.
But he signed for Wolves in 1945 and became one of their most illustrious players, forever associated with the halcyon days of Wolves' most successful years in the 1950s.
Mr Jones said that may not be the last the auction room had seen of his belongings.
"There are other Bert Williams items out there that we know of," he said, "But I can't say more than that."
Other items that sold for big money at the Football and Rugby memorabilia auction were 1965 Gold FA Challenge Cup winners medal, made of 9 carat gold, awarded to Geoff Strong and engraved with his name, which sold for a whopping £8,250, and a Liverpool FC Division 1 Champions gold medal awarded to Strong in the same year which went for £3,800.
A 1904 Manchester City FA Cup winners medal, hoped to fetch a cool £8,000-£10,000, was not sold, however.
Mullock's, which holds regular sporting memorabilia auctions at Ludlow Racecourse, hit the headlines last month when a pair of knickers worn by Virginia Wade in the 1977 Wimbledon Singles Final were snapped up for £1,600.
