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 19th century whalebone walking stick, the handle formed of a tooth ivory asymmetrical knob tapering to join to the octagonal tapering whalebone shaft at an engraved silver plated band. Length 89 cm
A 19th century whalebone walking stick, the handle formed of a tooth ivory knob tapering to join to the whalebone shaft at a silver plated band. Length 83.5 cm
Two Victorian walking sticks, 19th century, with carved ivory dog head handles and silver mounts, on Malacca shafts, lacking one eye (2), height 86 cm, 82 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, Sydney
A wood and bone walking stick, with silver collar engraved 'Ship Boyd - sunk 1809' referencing the burning of the Boyd, in Whangaroa Harbour, the bone handle with carved leaves to the front. Provenance: The Flower Family Collection. Length 87 cm
An elegant late 19th century whalebone walking stick, the handle formed of a tooth ivory knob tapering to join to the whalebone shaft at a silver band, length 83.5 cm.
A short whalebone cane, the shaft with metal ferrule, the marine ivory handle in the form of a dog's head, glass eyes and engraved silver collar. Provenance: The Flower Family Collection. Length 66 cm
A whalebone and wood walking stick, the whalebone shaft terminating in a silver collar and turned ebonised wood handle. Length 89 cm. Provenance: The Flower Family Collection.
A Sessionist style whale tooth handled walking stick early 20th century ebonised wood stand with hand beaten sterling silver mounts, possibly Austro-Hungarian, 72 cm high (crack to tooth)
A lady's silver topped whalebone walking cane, the fine tapering whalebone shaft terminating in a small silver plate collar, decoratively carved ivorine section and an engraved silver handle. Length 85 cm. Provenance: The Flower Family Collection.
A rosewood and silver walking stick engraved: 'R.J. SEDDON, 1897' the finial with encircling machine engraving, marked 'Sterling'. Length 92.5 cm. Presumably the property of the Premier of New Zealand, Richard John Seddon. Provenance: The Flower Family…
Walking stick sword an Edwardian walking stick with horn handle, wooden shaft and concealed short sword with makers marks on the blade unidentifiable. Complete with silver fittings. Length 89 cm
Walking stick sword a very fine example of a mid-Victorian, style walking stick with hidden sword blade, polished horn handle, silver finial, cap and embellishments. Makers marks unidentifiable due to wear.
Riding crop: James (Bill) Roycroft, won a gold medal in the team three-day event at the 1960 Rome games, riding in his first Olympics at the age of 45 and competing with a broken collarbone. This is the riding crop Roycroft used during this campaign.…
Walking stick sword an Edwardian gentlemen's rattan cane walking stick with silver fittings. Maker Henry Tracy & Sons London assayed 1921. Having engraving (Leb 1927). Blade showing stamps France 5.
A late Victorian silver, ivory and malacca cane walking stick, the approximate T-form ivory handle with decorative embossed silver cap ends and fitting to the tapered malacca shaft, engraved 'W.S.' reputedly a presentation upon the achievement of becoming…
Bamboo walking stick sword likely 18th century, having an ivory handle carved in the form of a man's head with floppy cap and fitted with a horn collar. Having un- marked silver and brass finials. Blade not marked. Length 92.5 cm.
A mahogany and ivory walking stick, the mahogany shaft terminating with a silver collar engraved S.S. Wairarapa (referencing the sinking on the reef at Great Barrier Island in 1894 with the loss of 140 lives) and a Japanese ivory handle carved with lions.…
Wonderful walking stick, with silver knop handle decorated with scroll, acanthus and flower head, above a carved ebonised support, inlaid with dot motifs, length 92.5 cm
An antique Narwhal tusk and silver walking cane, later 19th century, the cane of traditional tapering form and brass capped to the base, a turban style handle in possibly walrus ivory, the sterling silver collar with inscription dated 1883. Length 85 cm
Alfred Felton: Walking stick with silver mount inscribed 'Alfred Felton Esplanade St Kilda. 1903'. Famously known for establishing the Felton Bequest one of Australia's most prestigious & enduring philanthropic bequests. 85 cm
Russian silver sword stick, the top set with an image of St.George and the dragon, opening to an inset compass, above a Russian coat of arms, twisting to reveal sword, above an ebonised cylindrical support, length 93.5 cm
Gentleman's walking stick, set with silver knop end, with embossed flowers and foliage above a whale bone band, the stick, of carved sipiralled form, length 89 cm
A German Art Nouveau silver mounted Guiana Snakewood walking cane, circa 1900, the 800 silver handle depicting a recumbent mermaid supported by waves, the tapered shaft with silver ferrule, probably made in Schwabisch Germany, approximate weight of handle…
A whalebone and ivory walking cane, the shaft of alternating plain and patterned bone sections, terminating in a wide silver collar and spherical ivory handle. Length 88 cm. Provenance: The Flower Family Collection.
An important New Zealand walking stick, the shaft made from jarrah timber from James Busby's Residence which later became the Treaty House. The plain wood shaft topped with a pounamu band, a wide silver collar engraved with 'This Stick is Part of the…