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The 250-year-old waistcoast was passed in at A$575,000
($438,035.00) at Sunday's auction in Sydney, after being valued
between A$800,000 and A$1.1 million. Aalders Auctions said the
highest bidder, a local, was now in negotiation with the owner.
"There have been a few Captain Cook items come up but probably
nothing as significant as this," said Julian Aalders from
Aalders Auctions.
The auctioneer said Cook's family kept the waistcoat in the
United Kingdom after the explorer's death from a knife wound in
Hawaii in 1779.
In 1912 a British industrialist bought the waistcoat from an
antique dealer and gave it to a prominent Sydney pianist, Ruby
Rich, who had the garment altered to fit a woman, Aalders said.
Unfortunately, the auctioneer said, Rich wore the garment to
many social gatherings and spilt wine on it.
The auctioneer didn't disclose the identity of the seller, a
private collector, who bought the garment from Rich's family in
Sydney in 1981.
(Reporting by Benjamin Weir in SYDNEY. Additional reporting by
Stefica Nicol Bikes.; Editing by Byron Kaye and Michael Perry)
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