Cane collectors and dealers are a special breed, and they convene twice annually for the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century and earlier offerings put forth at semiannual auctions by Tradewinds Antiques. The sale is a particularly collegial affair; everyone in the gallery is on a first-name basis. In a most civilized twist, the sale breaks around noontime for lunch.
The May 2 sale was no exception. A small, but highly focused, group gathered to expand their collections. Most participants are collectors, with only a sprinkling of trade. Others bought by phone. Buyers inspected the canes carefully †each antique cane has its own particular story.
This year is the 30th anniversary of Tradewinds Antiques, founded by the late Nancy Taron. Proprietor Hank Taron, with his son, Chris, carries on his wife’s legacy with two live auctions and four online auctions each year. This year is their 17th.
Since the beginning, Maine auctioneer Bruce Gamage has presided. It is all hands on deck for the Gamage family. There is 83-year-old Bruce, who works the sale; Bruce II, who auctions; Bruce III, who helps run the sale, and two Gamage great-grandchildren. All the gentlemen wear cane ties, instituted by Nancy Taron some years ago.
The second lot of the 197-lot sale was the highlight, an ebony cane with a gold handle with a bezel-set gold quartz stone that had belonged to Connecticut politician Julius Hotchkiss. It opened at $8,500 and sold in the room for $10,350. The gold and gold quartz came from the Gold Rush.
A Remington large dog head curio cane, No. 122, which was patented in 1858, with a gutta percha head and space in the shaft to accommodate a .32 caliber rim-fire cartridge, is a scarcity, and it brought $8,625.
Nautical canes are generally quite creatively wrought: an arresting geometric walrus ivory sailor-made cane was carved with a polygon head that was inlaid with silver diamonds on the top and sides, two silver whales and eight silver spherules, along with inlaid baleen spherules. Bidding opened at $5,000, and the cane realized $6,900.
A simple and elegant going-ashore whalebone cane with a mushroom whale ivory knob, circa 1840, was a one of a kind and sold for $6,325. A Seventeenth Century English elephant ivory pomander cane with scrolling silver pique and bearing the date 1672 was also $6,325.
An American whalebone going ashore cane with a carved ivory Turk’s-head knot handle and a shaft carved as a barley twist realized $3,450, while another whalebone example, also carved with an ivory Turk’s-head knot handle, drew $2,875. An interesting sailor-made macramé cane with a Turk’s-head knot handle went to $3,220. Another nautical cane of interest was a rare example with a walrus ivory knob handle on a baleen shaft made from three pieces of baleen fastened with metal pins. It was also $3,220.
A Japanese elephant ivory cane was carved in the form of the head of a shogun, embellished with jade, coral and mother-of-pearl and set within a hood of carved boxwood. The handle was determined to be Japanese and the cane itself was probably English. It sold for $6,900.
A Japanese Shibayama cane had a ball handle inlaid with hardstone, coral and mother-of-pearl in the form of flowers and vines, berries and insects. The catalog notes suggest that it was probably made in England with an imported handle. It realized $3,795. A Japanese elephant ivory cane carved with the head of a sage, or perhaps one of the Immortals, and on a malacca shaft was $3,680. The cane was assumed to be a Continental piece.
An English macassar ebony cane with an elephant ivory handle carved in the form of a frog with inlaid black glass eyes and horn spherules on the body fetched $6,325. Narwhal canes are highly prized, and an American example with a wood cap, circa 1860, attracted $5,750. An ivory and whalebone cane with inlaid abalone and tiny silver spherules, possibly French, circa 1800, fetched $5,463 from the same absentee bidder who paid $4,600 for a folk art cane that was carved in the likeness of a Civil War soldier at parade rest, with a carved shamrock at the end of the shaft and two shields carved with the date 1861.
Carved in the form of American Indian, perhaps an Apache, according to the catalog description, an elephant ivory cane was probably an English piece and the figure may represent a participant in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. It sold for $4,025.
A carved ivory cockatoo cane with blue glass eyes on a snakewood perch from the Fulendider collection, probably English, sold for $2,875, while a striking Tiffany cane with a bloodstone handle, a half-inch 18K gold collar and the shaft of tortoiseshell veneer sold for $3,450. Another Tiffany cane had a silver handle in the form of a Thomas Nast eagle with Art Nouveau scrolling and sold for $4,025.
A bloodstone eagle cane with red glass eyes and a gilt collar sold to an absentee bidder for $2,530, and an English ivory owl cane with brown glass eyes on a malacca shaft with a silver collar with Chester hallmarks for 1908 went out at $2,530.
A cherrywood cane with an impressive elephant ivory handle in the form of a lion and lioness realized $3,565.
No Tradewinds auction is complete without a naked lady or two. This sale featured a cane with an elephant ivory handle carved in the form of a woman draped artfully in a sheer material that sold for $3,738. An elephant ivory Madonna cane draped modestly and with downcast eyes sold for $518.
A particular favorite was an ebony and ivory cane in the form of a wolf in sheep’s clothing: an ebony handle was carved as a detailed head of a toothy wolf with yellow glass eyes with an overlay of a lamb’s pelt of elephant ivory. It realized $1,150.
A European hardwood cane with a burl handle carved as a skeleton with an ivory skull enfolded in a cloak and shroud attracted much attention and fetched $2,070.
An American cane carved with the faces of comic strip characters, circa 1905, had a horn shaft and realized $2,415, while an American flute cane with wooden keys, circa 1840, with a burned on decoration, sold for $3,450. A rare English brass telescope cane wrapped in baleen, circa 1810, signed “Fairey, London,” was $2,645.
All prices quoted reflect the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For additional information, www.tradewindsantiques.com or 978-526-4085.
