Collectable silver mounted walking sticks and canes
Canes
From around 1550 to 1930, canes were a dressing accessory without which a lady or gentleman, properly dressed, would never leave the house. However their use went out of fashion after this, leaving the market to collectors.
For a collector, the main interest lies in the handle, which could be made of wood, bamboo, ebony, ivory, tusk, animal horn, or bone. Sometimes they were made out of porcelain, Bakelite, gold, silver, or glass; enameled or cloisonnéd; or sprinkled with precious gemstones. The height of good taste was a gold handle with minmal decoration, as silver handles were despised by
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the wealthier classes. However silver handled canes have survived in large numbers, and exhibit a wide variety of decorative treatment, from the comparatively plain, armorial or regimental style to the more flamboyant excesses of Art Nouveau.
Carved handles can be found depicting grotesque animal or human forms, and are highly prized nowadays. Also keenly sought are multi-purpose canes, with a concealed spirit flask, tobacco pipe or even a tiny fire-arm for personal safety.
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A walking stick was an integral part of every well dressed man's wardrobe in the nineteenth century, and his collection of walking-sticks were probably kept just inside the hall in a stand, sharing space with umbrellas.
Walking-sticks and canes derive from the cudgels and staves carried for defence, evolving into dress accessories topped with silver or ivory, with a ferrule at the point to cut down wear. Many had elaborately carved heads. Sometimes these unscrewed to reveal space for a snuff box or other article. About 200 ancillary accessories are known to have been incorporated into walking
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sticks, the best known being the sword. Sword sticks date back to the sixteenth century, and often the sword just slides out with the stick acting as a sheath. Other sword and knife designs had a spring mechanism and would release on the press of a button or lever.
Other sticks pull apart, revealing a dagger with a handle for the left hand, and a stick with a blade for the right hand. Two steel blades sliding into the shaft from each end probably represent duelling weapons. The poacher's gun was a simple weapon in the shape of a walking stick; more sophisticated was a six-barrelled revolver, exposed by pressure on a trigger-spring that expelled part of the cane, and which had a dagger in the centre of the barrels.
Most extravagant was the machine-gun in a rectangular cane. "The kit", as it was 'known, was a pocket violin; this was developed into a violin fitted into a cane with a two-inch (5cm) diameter. Other canes contained music-boxes, harmonicas, flutes, piccolos, pipes (including opium pipes), vesta boxes, cigarette holders, candles, battery torches (dating from as early as 1882), contraceptives, poison, and a whole tribe of canes known as working companions (scalpels for doctors, small spades for botanists, safety lamps for miners). Among the most curious is the voyeur's cane with a mirror above the ferrule enabling the user to look up women's skirts.
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A c.1900 Eastern silver and Malacca cane walking stick, possibly Chinese, the large silver knob handle embossed with rural village scene and figure, engraved 'Compliments of C & M October 1907', a belt with buckle mount below. Length 93 cm.
Early 20th century English silver handled walking stick, hallmarked, Birmingham, 1910, with hooked handle, and engraved with fine acanthus motifs, above slender stick, length 94 cm
Victorian sterling silver handled walking stick, hallmarked, Birmingham, 1855, the knop end decorated with hanging game birds and game birds in flight accented with acanthus scroll, length 85 cm
Edwardian sterling silver handled walking stick, hallmarked, London, 1901, with a angled handled, engraved with acanthus scroll on a bamboo style stick, length 91 cm
An ivory and silver topped bamboo walking cane. The slightly tapering cane, with sterling silver collar rubbed hallmarks, brass capped to the base. Length 91 cm
George V silver collar bone handle walking cane sterling silver collar hallmarked for Birmingham 1916, with horn handle to wooden walking cane, length 90 cm.
An early 1900s silver topped walking cane, the silver handle in the form of an Art Nouveau maiden with a berry vine entwined in her hair, length 80 cm.
Victorian horn and sterling silver walking stick, the horn handle carved in the form of a horse hoof, with a sterling silver collar hallmarked 1871 and with engraved monogram to the shaft, length 83 cm
An antique fox hunting stick with silver plated head adorned with kangaroo decoration, 19th century, 75 cm long overall
Silver walking stick handle, unmarked, of tapering cylindrical form, decorated with flower and acanthus pattern with medallion to top, total weight 37gm, length 10 cm
German silver topped walking stick, marked 800, handle with foliate wreaths and flowers, set between striped grip detail, above a slender wooden shaft with continuous knop design, a/f (silver capped handle loose), length 93 cm
An American silver mounted walking stick, with carved bone lion's head handle, and engraved silver collar marked 'Empire Sterling', the shaft carved and stained to replicate crocodile skin, mid 20th century, length: 105 cm.
A Continental silver and porcelain mounted walking stick, the handle painted with flowers and heightened in gilt, engraved silver collar (unmarked), length: 86.5 cm.
A silver topped walking stick, the mount foliate engraved and monogrammed 'Mfa', applied with a silver, 'Knot' and with ebonised shaft, maker Td, London 1925. Possibly Thomas Davis, stick maker in Avebury Street, Hoxton, London N. Length: 92 cm.
An antique walking stick with carved ivory handle, sterling silver presentation collar, rosewood shaft with brass ferrule, early 20th century, 90 cm high
Whisky cane antique walking stick with concealed glass whisky tube and cork stopper, hidden under a silver cap, with ebonized shaft and brass ferrule, 19th century, 86 cm high
An antique walking stick with unusual American sterling silver top, blackthorn shaft and brass ferrule, 19th century, inscribed 'Geo. Hartwell, Chicago, Ill.', 94 cm high
An antique walking stick with carved boxwood animal head handle, set with glass eyes, mounted with silver finished collar above a fiddleback timber shaft with brass ferrule, 19th century, 87 cm high
An antique walking stick with silver top inset with an antique Austrian silver coin dated 1780, beefwood shaft and brass ferrule, 19th century, a??a??a??a??a??a??85 cm high
An antique walking stick with turned ivory handle, silver collar, cane shaft and brass ferrule, 19th century, 90 cm high
Gentlemans walking stick, set with a carved and incised horn handles, above a silver mount, a cylindrical bone support, height 94 cm
Sterling silver hound' walking stick head, sterling silver hound' with a cap walking stick handle with treaded end hallmarked London 1913, by makers J.H
An Edwardian silver topped walking stick, the ebonised shaft with a plain rounded finial, Feldman Brothers, London 1916. Length 86 cm.
Walking stick, the handle in the form of a hunting dog, above a tapering support accented with gilt silver mounts, length 90 cm