Antique walking sticks

Q. Are walking sticks really collectable

A. If they're old or interesting enough, yes. Although no longer fashionable - and there's a fair chance of getting at least a sideways glance from a police officer if you're carrying one without sporting an obvious injury - walking sticks were once as essential an item of a gentleman's attire as hats, gloves or shoes. You weren't properly dressed without one. Consequently, much thought and artistic effort was put into their design and manufacture.

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Q. When was the heyday of the walking stick

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Q. So what was around before the 19th century

A. For centuries prior to this time, walking sticks were purely functional objects - carried partly as a defensive weapon to ward off unsavoury characters and partly as an aid for negotiating rough, overgrown tracks - but by early 19th century they had become more of a fashion accessory.

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Q. What different kinds of stick are there

A. Malacca and ebony canes with silver or gold tops were very popular, but there were many other designs. For example, the Constable was a short stick with a gold-plated cap, rather than a handle, that became fashionable in the 1860s.

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Sticks with carved heads were perennially popular and some of the most attractive are topped with the ivory heads depicting well-known personalities; the Victorians took great delight in amusing walking sticks with such 'character' handles. Unusually for the time, nude female forms were often portrayed in quite daring poses.

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By the mid-19th century both short and long sticks were in fashion. Longer sticks were made of bamboo, ebony or ebonised wood and topped in gold or agate. By the 1890s short sticks were out, and fashion favoured light canes of malacca or whangee.

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Sticks concealed or converted into the most surprising of things. The oil-fired lamp stick, for example, provided the pedestrian with light in the foggy night-time streets. Others are even more unlikely, such as a set of doctor's instruments - including a stethoscope - or an artist's brushes and paints.

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Other novelty sticks were made, to varying degrees of practicality. The fashion-conscious man might carry a clothes brush or flask of cologne in his stick, while others conveniently held glasses or gloves. Screw-topped handles concealed snuff, tobacco or a small pillbox, and -�as most men smoked -�walking sticks often held pipes, cigarette holders, cigar cutters and vesta cases; some actually converted into pipes or cigarette holders. A spirit flask concealed in the handle or shaft of a stick provided a very welcome restorative dram on a cold day.

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Other useful curiosities were telescope sticks, microscope sticks, watch canes, corkscrew sticks, sticks that concealed lace-making equipment - so that a lady could take her work to the park - and horse-measuring sticks, as well as sticks which can be transformed into fishing rods, card tables and stools.

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Weapons could also be concealed in an innocuous-looking cane. The most popular of these was the sword stick: the hidden blade ensured that the elegantly dressed man could protect himself from 'footpads'. For poachers, there were guns disguised as walking sticks and others where the handle was actually a pistol.

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Q. Where can you buy antique sticks

A. Walking sticks can usually be found in street markets and many antiques shops have a few, though often of very ordinary quality. More interesting selections can be found in auction rooms, where complete collections are sometimes sold, and good sticks may be found lotted together in an umbrella or hall stand at a local house sale.

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By Simon Smith