Ukulele Cane

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Killer Canes Private Collection Auction #3

By Kimball Sterling

Dec 6, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-12-06 13:00:00 2025-12-06 13:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Killer Canes Private Collection Auction #3 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/kimball-sterling/killer-canes-private-collection-auction-3-21330
The Killer Cane Private Collection Auction #3 This is the cane auction the world has been waiting to see. This is the best of this collection. Weapon , dress, swords, firearms, nautical ,gadget ,and more. Emma Sterling expert in charge . Kimball Sterling kimballsterling@earthlink.net

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• Lot Description
  Ca. 1890 - This is a very rare Uke Cane made of tin, circa 1890, which is designed to play and copy the sound of a full scale ukulele including a full size copy of the print advertisement introducing the cane for the retail price of $3.50. The entire tapered cane is made of metal, painted brown, with a silvered end cap which opens with a bayonet fitting to remove a section of shaft revealing the four string instrument. It makes a surprisingly large sound, and was originally intended for street musicians. All original with overall length of 35.9". The ukulele isn't a native or ancient instrument, but started with Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii in the late 19th century during the largest wave of Portuguese immigration over 30 years with ~30,000 Portuguese immigrants. The ukulele is not a direct descendant of any particular instrument; rather it is a hybrid, most likely of the machete and the five-string rajão. These instruments are all in a family of small guitar-like instruments dating from the 18th century. These and similar forms are still popular throughout Latin America, Spain and Portugal. These and other European instruments were originally imported into Hawaii by the immigrants, and continued to be imported through the late 19th century, even after local makers started building their own.  Manuel Nunes, Joao Fernandes, Augusto Dias and Jose do Espirito Santo all arrived from Portugal in Hawaii on the "Ravenscrag", in 1879, along with ~400 other immigrants, to work the sugar cane fields. Fernandes allegedly surprised and delighted the dockside natives by playing tunes on a small stringed instrument. This has been variously identified as a Portuguese braguinha (a nickname for a Portuguese instrument also known as the cavaquinho), or a small four-stringed Madeiran guitar called a machete (from the Portuguese-owned Madeira islands, sometimes called a machete de Braga after the city and district in northern Portugal where the instrument originated), and even described as both a rajão, a small, five-stringed Portuguese instrument. The instruments were often carried by farm workers to the taro fields, and became known as 'taro patch fiddles' and also as pila li'ili'i or little fiddles. Nunes, Dias and Santo were also cabinet makers, and as a sideline, instrument makers. Once their contract ended they left the sugar cane fields and quickly started making versions of their native machetes.  Dias opened a small shop making and repairing musical instruments (as well as furniture) in 1884 while Santos and Nunes opened shops in 1888. The ukulele was played at a party aboard a British yacht anchored at Honolulu in 1889 with a trio of women performers including Princess Victoria Kaiulani. OL-36 1/4"
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