Tippler 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
  20th Century Classic flask cane with a turned and threaded brass ball knob that opens to release a 5” short flask with a cork plug concealed in the stained fruitwood shaft and a brass ferrule. The shaft itself can be stored conveniently in three pieces, and the joining lines are artfully veiled within three flush-set ebony and brass washers. This particular cane is known as a Toulouse Lautrec cane in Europe because the famous painter, who struggled with alcoholism, always carried one of these around with a shot of absinthe. During the Prohibition era, it gained popularity in the US and was given the names Topper or Tippler Cane. The well-known French painter Toulouse Lautrec dedicated his name to this cane, which is seen in the backdrop of this page. The other, on the opposite page, titled “A Drink from a Cane,” is from 1920. H. 3” x 1 ½”, O.L. 35 ½” $200-$300 For similar pieces, see C. Dike, Cane Curiosa, Chapter 2, Food and Drink, page 23, and Francis H. Monek’s book, Canes Through The Ages, page 167. Prohibition, legal prevention of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933 under the terms of the Eighteenth Amendment. Although the temperance movement, which was widely supported, had succeeded in bringing about this legislation, millions of Americans were willing to drink liquor (distilled spirits) illegally, which gave rise to bootlegging (the illegal production and sale of liquor) and speakeasies (illegal, secretive drinking establishments), both of which were capitalized upon by organized crime. As a result, the Prohibition era also is remembered as a period of gangsterism, characterized by competition and violent turf battles between criminal gangs.
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