Featured ANTIQUE SILVER-TOPPED SWAGGER(?) STICK

Bought at the market this morning...



Entire thing is 70cm / 27in long, bamboo, with silver handle.

Handle is stamped on the collar, but I have no idea what it says. I'm guessing some kind of colonial mark? Does anybody recognize it? Is it a swagger stick? At the length it is, I can't imagine it's anything else.

 

parasol handle???

 

I don't think so. It ends in a ferrule, not an umbrella mechanism.

 

The end of the stick:



Originally, this was one single ferrule, which was slipped on the end and then nailed in place. At some point, someone slammed it into the ground, breaking off the tip and denting the end.

I've managed to pull the cap of the ferrule out with a pair of tweezers. Next step is to glue it back onto the ferrule.

 

Maybe a child's walking cane?

 

Toulouse Lautrec

although I can't see this as a walking stick being ornate and uncomfortable, swagger sticks were usually bamboo or hide ( supple )

 

That was my first thought when I saw it, but I really don't know.

It's VERY short, if it is a walking stick - less than 30 inches long.

I mean, it COULD be a child's walking stick. That's just as likely as a swagger stick at this length.

 

Now that I've had a chance to properly assess the stick and check out how it was made, etc...the more I'm convinced it may actually be a child's walking stick.

A swagger stick was never meant to make contact with the ground, so it was never intended to have a ferrule on it, which this obviously has. So if it is a walking stick, because of the ferrule, then it has to be a child's stick.

The old ferrule may not be worth salvaging, so I may try to remove it, and replace it with a new one, if I can find something suitable.

 

Perhaps a little person?

 

Somebody suggested it was a riding cane or riding stick, similar to a riding crop/whip.

I've looked it up, but again...the length isn't right. All the riding canes I've seen are approaching 3ft...and this one is nowhere near that length.

It may well-be. I've done a lot more research, and I no longer think it's a swagger stick - the information I've consumed and photographs I've seen have convinced me of that. Now, I'm still pretty sure it's either a children's, dwarf's or woman's walking stick of some variety. It's the only thing that answers all the criteria.

I have now turned my attention towards repairing the ferrule. I didn't want to throw it out and buy a new one (I couldn't find one to fit, anyway!!), so instead, I have started rebuilding/repairing the original one, so that I can add it back to the stick when I'm done.

I've removed the ferrule from the stick (easy enough - it's held in by a single, not-very-well-driven nail), rolled out the dents and bumps, hammered in the broken end-cap, and I'm currently epoxying them together.

Once it's set, I'll slip it back onto the stick in one piece, and hammer it back into place with a new nail of the right size.

 

Looks like a swagger stick to me, perhaps palm wood? Can't really make anything out of the marks (Thai, Burmese?), the silverwork looks Southeast Asian or Indian...


From Monek's 'Canes Through the Ages' (1995):




1917 ad:




~Cheryl

 

I am leaning towards Burmese.

 

So is the handle actually silver, or something else?

 

This is much shorter than a yard, I can tell you that now. If it was any shorter than what it is, it'd be a drumstick...

 

It looks like silver to me. Did you test it, or have it tested?

 

Your library must be very impressive.

 

I haven't tested it yet. I'm trying to find out what the mark is, first.