The mid-Seventeenth Century cane that Henry A. Taron described as “the best piece in the sale, arguably the best cane in a very long time,” was the high lot at his Tradewinds Antiques sale on April 26.
The English ivory, silver and enamel pique cane sold to an absentee bidder for $29,900. Its delicate string inlay and jeweled tones of enamel endowed it with the aspect of an illuminated manuscript. The elephant ivory handle was decorated with red and green enamel and silver pique with string inlay in the form of dainty birds, animals †including a rabbit and a lamb †flowers and leaves. It was the single consignment of an English collector and bore the signature of John Pointer.
The bidding audience was small but concentrated and the phones and absentee bidders were hopping. Tradewinds’ sales are very much a family affair, with Hank Taron presiding and son Chris assisting. The auctioneer was Rockland, Maine, antiques dealer Bruce Gamage, who has sold Tradewinds sales since 1993. He is only one of four generations of Gamages who help out at these sales; his father Bruce, his son Bruce and his grandson Nick work the sales. The Tarons and the Gamages were all decked out in jaunty cane ties.
A sailor-made whale pan bone cane was carved with two ball-in-chamber devices, a whimsy seen in wood but rarely in whalebone and one Taron said he had never seen in ivory. The shaft was carved also in a diamond pattern above a fluted section above rope twist carving and the base. The cane realized $21,850 from a telephone bidder.
A gold cane with an inlaid gold quartz stone on a rosewood shaft brought $13,800. The cane had belonged to the Boston-born James Otis, who went to San Francisco in the Gold Rush and later became mayor of that city. Hank Taron said he had researched Otis to determine if a relationship existed between him and the Eighteenth Century Boston patriot of the same name, but without success.
An elegant Tiffany gold and enamel cane, circa 1890, had a cabochon moonstone in the top above a band of white enamel guilloche and a lower larger band of royal blue guilloche enamel. Decorated with a gold swallow with diamonds, it sold for $10,350.
A mid-Nineteenth Century whale ivory and whalebone cane inlaid with elongated and circular tortoiseshell sold for $10,350. It was carved octagonally and had been given 21 inches of rope twist.
A hickory historical presidential cane presented by “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson to Silas E. Burrows sold to an absentee bidder for $9,200. The cane had a gold knob inscribed, “Andrew Jackson to Silas E. Burrows, June 12th, 1832.” Research on the cane and its history carried out by Chris Taron revealed that Burrows was instrumental in the placement of a monument at the graveside of Mary Ball Washington, mother of George Washington, to replace the original one that had been destroyed. The project was not completed until 1894, in the administration of Grover Cleveland.
A dramatic whale ivory and whalebone cane inlaid with exotic dark wood in a flashy geometric design sold for $8,625. Catalog notes suggest that it may have been English. Another, a mid-Nineteenth Century American example with a geometric Art Deco design, sold for $3,220.
A snake wood cane depicting an early Nineteenth Century French courtesan, circa 1835, in ivory and gilt bronze was also $8,625. The cane was acquired by the consignor from the estate of collector and author Catherine Dike, who featured it on the cover of her book La Canne Objet d’Art .
A Malacca cane with the carved ivory bust of a Roman lady was made around 1860, probably in Europe, and sold for $7,475. A Seventeenth Century English pomander cane on a Malacca shaft was carved from elephant ivory with pique flowers and scrolls. It realized $6,325, and another Seventeenth Century pique cane was also $6,325. The elephant ivory handle was decorated with a pique sunburst, a scalloped frame and scrolling and blossoms.
Taron manages to round up the choicest and most interesting examples for his semiannual live auctions. This time out he offered several musical gadget canes. An 1890s English rosewood flute cane with a simple elephant ivory cap from the Philip Hampton collection realized $2,070. Another example included a pitch pipe in the ivory and silver handle on a snake wood shaft. The circa 1900 English cane realized $1,725. It was used to tune up “The Cane Gang,” a Maine-based group whose members play music on gadget canes. They were the stars of the “Program of Unusual Music and Talent” on the eve of the sale, entertaining the audience.
There was also a tin ukulele gadget cane that brought $2,300.
One could have dined out with friends on the eating utensils cane with a silver head that opened to reveal a carving knife, two sets of ivory and silver chopsticks, two spoons, three small silver dishes and other implements. Made in China for the English trade around 1900 and engraved with the initials FS, the cane sold for $3,738.
A signed Japanese shibayama cane in elephant ivory on a Malacca shaft was decorated with eight inlaid insects in polished hardstones, mother-of-pearl and abalone and had a 1-inch ferrule with an inscribed presentation. It realized $3,220.
An English silver cane hallmarked for 1895 is going home to the great-great-grandson of the maker, James Howell of London. The cane bears the mark JH for the London maker, and sold for $1,035. It was made in the 1,000 faces design, demonstrating the passion for all things Japanese in the late Nineteenth Century.
A French porcelain cane made around 1740 at the Saint-Cloud factory, painted with a boy gamboling on a path amid flowers and birds, sold for $3,450. A Webb cameo glass cane with white flowers and leaves etched on a deep blue glass orb realized $2,185. The silver and elephant ivory cane that once belonged to English actor Cyril Ritchard had an ivory shaft and its silver top was inscribed, “Made in Zanzibar by Alidina Cisram.” The cane sold for $4,600.
An American dog head cane curio with a large gutta percha head made by Remington in the 1860s attracted $9,200. A late Nineteenth Century Continental tortoiseshell cane with an internal dagger sold for $3,738. The top of a gold and silver cane with a Malacca shaft from Asprey of London opened to reveal a flask, which in turn concealed a deep well to accommodate a sufficiency of alcoholic refreshment. It realized $2,530.
An English microscope and telescope cane fitted with a device for supporting the object under study and a compartment for notepaper and whose ferrule can serve as an ink pot sold for $4,600. Dating from about 1830, it was part of the Philip Hampton collection. An English draftsman’s cane, also from the Hampton collection, was $2,990. A shoemaker’s sizing cane, thought to be French, was made around 1880 and realized $3,450.
Figural canes represented another healthy collecting arena. An elephant ivory cane carved in the form of a baby elephant on a horn ball drew $3,450. A German silver eagle cane from around 1920 was $2,645, while a Russian silver windswept fish cane sold for $1,840.
An elephant ivory cane carved with an eagle dated from about 1870. It brought $4,830.
The Fantastic Mr Fox, a corpulent elephant ivory fox dressed as a squire and carrying a double barreled shotgun, attracted $3,738, while an elephant ivory frog cane, stained the requisite green, was found in England and realized a hearty $2,415.
A walrus ivory figural cane of a female acrobat in a form-fitting costume and black boots was probably French, from about 1880. It realized $1,150.
A cane carved in the form of Mephistopheles in a Vulcan cap with a silver collar chased with a dragon sold for $2,645.
A hickory cane commemorating the Battle of Gettysburg that Taron said was the best of its type that he had ever seen, sold for $2,990. The cane was decorated with images in ink of the participants in the battle and was signed by the maker, “C.N.Sneads, Artist, Gettysburg.”
All prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 978-526-4085 or www.tradewindsantiques.com .
