An All Blacks jersey well over a century old has been acquired by national museum Te Papa.
It is the centrepiece of a collection belonging to Alex McDonald, who played 41 games for the All Blacks in the early 1900s.
The jersey is from the 1905 tour of Britain that gave the All Blacks their name.
"There are about nine jerseys, or nine known jerseys around the world," Te Papa's history curator Claire Regnault told 1News.
This one belonged to McDonald, who represented Otago before becoming one of "the Original" All Blacks.
"They were incredibly successful, they only ever lost one game to Wales by three points to nil, and so they become iconic," New Zealand Rugby Museum director Stephen Berg said.
McDonald gathered a 120-piece collection. It covers his time as a player, All Blacks selector and manager, and provincial coach.
His family thought it deserved a wider audience after remaining in their care for decades. Te Papa bought the collection through an auction house for $125,000.
"The opportunity to actually finally have in our hot little hands an 'Original' jersey was a great motivation," Regnault said.
Berg was pleased Te Papa had made the purchase.
"We've been advocating for Te Papa to show more of NZ's sporting history, it's so important to a culture, and so we're really really thrilled that Te Papa have made this purchase."
The items aren't going to be on display immediately, but museum staff are uploading pictures of the collection to their website for people to see.
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