Particles & Waves

By EdwardFenner

Jumbo the Elephant, antique souvenir walking stick

I treated myself this weekend to an antique walking stick. I have many sticks but nothing like this one. It's a Jumbo find in a couple of ways. It's a souvenir of Jumbo the elephant from which we also get the word "jumbo" to describe things extraordinarily large in size. It's also a good find. I've seen them online for $250 US and up. I got it for half that in Canadian dollars from the St. Jacobs Antiques Market about an hour's drive from where Jumbo lost his life in a collision with a train in 1885 in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. Jumbo was a little short of 25 years old.

Because I got this in St. Jacobs, which is not far from St. Thomas, I'm wondering if this stick was purchased on or before that fateful day in the very presence of Jumbo himself!

The head is small and likely made of pot metal and the shaft is painted and lacquered bamboo. It's missing its original rubber tip but is otherwise in great shape with only a bit of flaking wear on the shaft.

I got another antique cane there for $5 which I'll post another day. In the mean time, you can see another slim old cane I got a couple of months ago.

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