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
more...
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.
less...
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
more...
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.
less...
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
A fine walking stick with elephant head handle covered in snakeskin with glass eyes, ivory tusks and bound in silver, beautiful fiddleback timber shaft with brass and iron ferrule, 19th century, 90 cm high
An early 20th century silver and ivory English walking cane with dog head hand set with glass eyes, silver collar with marks rubbed, length 86 cm, missing bottom tip
Edwardian ivory and sterling silver walking stick, the handle carved in the form of a man's head, above an embossed silver mount with ebony stick, length 88 cm
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.
Sterling silver mounted walking stick, mark of C.S & Co., London, c. 1910, the engraved crook handle with grip cast as a clinging frog, height 85.5 cm. Provenance: The Estate of Judith Hoyle, Newcastle
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 late Victorian walking stick, the ebonised shaft with 'fluted' marine ivory tusk handle, silver cap and collar, a presentation inscription to the cap, London 1898, length 91.5 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
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
A c.1900 ivory and silver handled malacca cane walking stick, the tapered handle with raised knobbly effect, scroll decorated silver band and cap end showing some distress. Hallmarked London 1891. Length 90 cm.
An English walking stick, full silver birch with 9ct rose gold collar, 1908 inscription and finely carved duck head handle with inset glass eyes, 19th century, 97 cm high
An antique English walking stick with fiddleback timber shaft, sterling silver collar and carved horn dragons head handle with bone eyes, 19th century, 91 cm high
An American walking stick, ebony shaft with silver collar and shield, rare pressed glass negro head handle with hand-painted finish, mid 19th century, 89 cm high
Vintage sterling silver capped walking cane cap marked sterling for Hardy Brothers, monogrammed, to wooden walking stick, with brass ferrule to base, length 90 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.
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
Unusual lion handled walking stick, the handle engraved with maritime scene and fish with protruding lions head, above a hallmarked silver collar, length 92 cm
A late 19th century ivory and silver gilt walking cane the shaft of slim proportions and featuring a small finely decorated hallmarked silver top, length 94 cm
Sterling silver handled walking stick in the Victorian style with elaborate decoration, leading down to a hardwood stem that screws off with brass inserts, length 93 cm