Late 19th Century Carved Folk Art Walking Cane

Item Details

A late ninetieth century carved folk art maple walking cane with images of American Shakespearean actors of that time period. This amazing hand crafted pictorial wood carving features highly detailed inked images of men with etched features and their last name below. The images of the men circle the stick with alternating images of wild flowers. The top of the stick reads ‘Fond Recollections Recalls Them To View’. which is the second line of a ninetieth century poem titled ‘The Old Oaken Bucket by Samuel Woodworth’. The names on the cane read Booth, Sothern, Couldock, Taylor, Lover, Conway, Montague, and the last one is a full body of a man with Charles Peters under it. After our research we believe that at least some of these men were well known Shakespearean actors with the best known being Edwin Booth. We also found actors of that time period associated with Booth named Joseph Jefferson and Charles Peters. The top is embellished with a carved cow horn handle.

Condition

It seems that there must have been a finial and end cap at one time that is now missing.

Dimensions

Item #

15CIN235-013