A walking stick is a stick carried as a support when walking or as a fashionable accessory, usually with a handle or knob at the top and a protective ferrule at the base. Antique walking sticks and canes are collected for their materials, craftsmanship and the ingenuity of their designs.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a cane was an important part of a gentleman's dress, and fine examples had malacca shafts with gold, silver or ivory handles. The nineteenth century saw an enormous variety, with sticks made from woods such as ash, hazel, blackthorn, ebony and snakewood, and handles of silver, horn, porcelain, carved ivory or bone in the form of animal heads, dogs, birds and figures. Gadget or system canes concealed items such as swords, telescopes, drinking flasks, compasses, measuring rods and even seats. Country walking sticks and shepherd's crooks with carved horn handles form another popular field. Collectors look for fine carving, hallmarked silver collars, unusual mechanisms, good original condition and attractive shafts. Some materials, notably ivory, are subject to legal restrictions on sale, and sword sticks are also regulated in the United Kingdom.
