Silver Cane

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Masterpiece Cane Auction

By Kimball Sterling

May 24, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-05-24 11:00:00 2025-05-24 11:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Masterpiece Cane Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/kimball-sterling/masterpiece-cane-auction-19479
A European Masterpiece Cane Auction Kimball Sterling kimballsterling@earthlink.net

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• Lot Description
  Tentatively identified Birmingham, 1902 Plain and simple silver knob designed in a traditional Milord Shape with a short and stout configuration. It features a widening and hinged round top that opens sideways to reveal a compartment for storing matches and striker on the opposite edge discreetly embedded in a channel with the necessary rough surface. The knob comes on a well-figured makassar ebony shaft and a bone ferrule. This cane exudes a sense of refined style. Its sleek design and silver finish made it a perfect accessory for formal occasions. And, Avant Garde in its day, it became a classic collectible from the extended system canes, which seldom seamlessly combines practicality with charm. With its discreet match safe feature, this cane seamlessly combines practicality with charm. H. 1 ¼” x 1 ¾”, O.L. 33 ¼” $600-$700 In her book “Cane Curiosa, From Gun to Gadget”, Section II City Walking Sticks, Catherine Dike devotes Chapter 7 to Tobacco. She mentions in the respective presentation: “As fashion changed, chewing and snuff tobacco were replaced by smoking tobacco for pipes, cigars and finally cigarettes. A wide variety of pipe canes exist, appearing in various countries at different times. Because of its shape, the pipe's bowl became a natural part of the handle; the stem was hidden in the shaft. In Germanic countries, to be ostentatious students smoked large meerschaum pipes, the bowls of which were adapted to their canes. The hollow stick was used as a stem and the mouthpiece was concealed under the handle. Cigars and cigarettes were also carried in canes, generally in the shaft. Some cigar smokers' canes also came with a handy ashtray to dispose of smelly cold cigars. Certain models of cigarette canes were equipped with an elevator-type device that held up to 12 cigarettes, brought up one at a time by turning a small wheel near the handle. The above 1920 advertisement shows such a cane. Cigarettes were also placed in the handle, one frequently seen model being an English silver cigarette. But there is no smoke without fire, and various ignition devices were adapted to canes. At first, tinder and flint were used. After matches were invented in the 1830s, these proved safer to carry in a cane than in a pocket, as they ignited easily. Between 1850 and World War I, matchsafes (called vesta boxes in England) were produced in an extraordinary variety of shapes and materials. These little containers had a spring-activated lid and a striker on the side of the box or on the inside of the lid. Cane handles became fashionable matchsafes until the gas lighter appeared in the 1920s. Some canes have only the striker placed on the handle or the ferrule.”
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