Walking Sticks Collection

My walking stick collection has more than doubled in the past month! Linda and I do a lot of antiquing but I'm fussy about my sticks. Given that I have a mobility disability, I want to use them, not just collect them or display them. Most sticks are crappy, boring crooks or smoothed branches. Most of the rest are ridiculously priced. Since our trip to the USA in July, I've had some luck finding interesting sticks that are also reasonable or even cheap. Best viewed LARGE.

From left to right:

The Somerset. I usually don't much like simple crook canes but this one spoke to me. It had genuine wear and tear plus a nice, decorated silver band. This stick kicked off the recent series of purchases when we stopped at a nice little antiques mall in Somerset, Pennsylvania on the way home from our vacation to Washington, DC and Cape Charles, VA. It was a steal at $16. No info on it but it is probably from the late 1800s to early 1900s.

The Dragon. My second-longest-owned stick. I got this brand new at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in the late 1990s at the International Pavilion's Vietnam booth. It is hefty, well-carved, and represents the Year of the Dragon - my birth year. I think I paid $20 for it back then.

The Dove. This nifty, folksy, hand-carved stick is the second recent purchase. I found this at the antiques mall at the Waterloo Market in St. Jacobs, Ontario. No info on it's age or origin but I'd say it is probably pre-1950. The beak is a bit damaged, but not too bad. It has a simple silver band around the shaft. The shaft itself has a dozen pairs of gull silhouettes painted on it. Very nice and only $45. I will use this sparingly as it is a bit delicate. I'll use it on my better days.

The Scottish Twist. This is the oldest stick I own and my favourite and most-used. It helped me across the stage at my convocation and has a lot of mileage on it. It is mid-to-late 19th-century Scottish. Likely blackthorn wood. It's hand-turned and has a Jacobite twist to the shaft (so I'm told). I got it in Edinburh, Scotland at an antique shop in the Grassmarket in 2004. I paid 20 Scottish pounds for it. They had lots of canes/stick of all kinds - most antique stores do over there. I should have bought a dozen. Next time! I often wonder what stories this stick could tell. Where has it been? Who owned it? I have blipped this stick before.

The Staghorn. This is my most recent acquisition. It is an older cane, probably early 20th-century but could be older. (It's from 1896. More at update link below). I found this at the antiques mall in downtown Barrie, Ontario. I've been looking for a nicer, more formal cane. This fits the bill but I'm still looking for an elegant stick at a good price. This mall had a lovely 19th-century formal stick with a gold top. It was $700 and has been there for at least four years. It will be there for a long time yet. I wouldn't go over $300 for it. This new stick has a stag-horn handle, a slim shaft in really good shape, and a silver band near the handle. A very nice stick for $55. I've seen similar ones for double or more. UPDATE: I got some info on the silver hallmarks (blipped a couple of days after the above blip).

The Squirrel. My other favourite. Those who know me know my predilection for squirrels will not be surprised. I found this newly-made one - my first stick - at a Scottish shop in Elora, Ontario about 20 years ago. I was recovering from yet another knee injury and felt a stick would help. I used this a lot until it broke at Pearson International Airport (YYZ - Toronto) on the way to Holland in 2002. It slipped out of my mom's hands as she held it for me as I looked for something in my carry-on bag. The handle broke cleanly and I was hopping mad. I scrambled around the airport to find something to fix it with. A luggage shop had some super glue and it was repaired and endured the trip just fine. I still use it but don't put too much weight on it just in case. It is not an old stick and the handle is faux ivory or faux bone. I think I paid around $35 for it back in the day.

The Prickly One. My penultimately-recent purchase was at the Value Village thrift store (or was it Goodwill?) in Newmarket, Ontario. I cruise these stores regularly for sticks on the off chance something will turn up. Mostly, they have nothing or standard crooks. Last week, they had this nifty stick. It is not old (5 years maximum) and comes, I think, from south Asia - perhaps India or Thailand or thereabouts. It had a sticker on it with script from that part of the world but that may only indicate place of purchase. The carvings are similar to the motif I have seen on other sticks some Asian folks use or that I've seen in Chinatown in Toronto. For a mere $6 this stick couldn't be passed up.

The search continues. I'd love to get an antique sword cane some day. That would be pretty cool. Now I have to look for a proper stick or umbrella stand for them, too!

Anyone with a stick to sell? Got an antiques store or mall I should check out? Do leave a comment.

Not a terribly exciting photo but I've wanted to do this for some time with the original trio. Do have a look at yesterday's blip of an old truck. I rather like how it turned out.