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THBFigural Marine Whale Cane
About Seller
125 West Market Street
Johnson City, TN 37604
United States
Family-owned and family-run Johnson City Tennessee auction business for 25 years. Selling antiques and collectables for 38 years. Kimball M. Sterling, Inc. was founded and is owned by Kimball and Victoria Sterling, time and again, they have laid solid claim to world-wide attention and renown with an...Read more
Live Auction in Progress ... Currently on Lot Two ways to bid:
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Bid Increments
| Price | Bid Increment |
|---|---|
| $0 | $10 |
| $100 | $25 |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
About Auction
LiveJan 3, 2026
Masterpiece Cane auction is all from a Europeon collection. We offer items from this private collection about once a year, Kimball Sterling kimballsterling@earthlink.net
View Full Catalog (89)
- Lot Description
c. 1850
Crafted entirely from materials sourced at sea, this figural cane exemplifies the ingenuity and aesthetic instinct of the 19th-century mariner.
The handle, carved from a broad, flat section of whale jawbone, is boldly scaled for visual presence, even at the expense of an excessive fragility. Its form reflects both the limitations and opportunities presented by the material itself: a flattened silhouette, confidently executed.
On either side, the whale motif is rendered with an, for the time, unheard of modernist restraint, pared down to its essential contours yet unmistakably animated by glass-inset eyes and a precise, symmetrical balance. It is this elegant economy of line that sets the piece apart.
The shaft, shaped from a narrower length of bone, complements the handle in proportion and tone. It is plain and hardly tapers, fitted with a suitable pithed, braided collar and a tiny metal ferrule.
The abstraction feels startlingly forward-looking, anticipating the stylized forms of early 20th-century folk sculpture. There’s an undeniable kinship here with the iconic weather vanes of the Pacific Northwest, objects similarly born of function, yet elevated by vision.
A rare and compelling example, this cane stands as both a utilitarian object and a sculptural work,testament to the sailor’s hand, eye, and quiet ambition.
It survived flawlessly and is praised by the rightful decent patina paired to a superbly light faded surface.
H. 8 ½” x 3 ¾”, O.L. 37 ¾”
$2,000-$3,000
In 1843, Joseph Bogart Hersey, third mate and ship-keeper of the schooner “Esquimaux” of Provincetown, wrote in his journal…. “3rd July. We then began to saw up and divide the bone, scarcely any of which was held in such high estimation as to prevent it from being wasted. The jaw and the pans were dissected to such an advantage that nearly all had a piece which would answer to make a busk or cane, and some were fortunate enough to get both.” When the ship headed homeward after a three or four-year voyage, the whaleman’s patience was most sorely tried. The progress was slow, even with all the sails set, and the passage took several months as the ship had to run up the Atlantic with the northeast trade winds and was often becalmed for long periods. To obviate this uneasiness and prolonged boredom, all hands were encouraged to construct articles of their own fancy from the available materials on board. This intense occupation continued not just for hours, but for days and in some instances, whole weeks.
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