This photo of Australia’s infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, taken in 1874 after a boxing match, sold at Leonard Joel at Aus$55,000 (£27,500) to a descendant of Kelly.
As the story goes, Ned Kelly was imprisoned in 1871 after being caught riding a stolen horse that had been given to him as a ‘gift’ by Isaiah ‘Wild’ Wright. On his release three years later Kelly was determined to settle the score and so challenged and beat Wright in a 20-round bare-knuckle fight at Beechworth Gaol.
Melbourne photographer John James Chidley commemorated the match by capturing Kelly the following day in his boxing pose – this tattered albumen paper photo dated August 8, 1874. At Leonard Joel on March 29 it sold in the room at Aus$55,000 (£27,500) to a descendant of Ned Kelly himself.
