Featured 1800s silver-topped walking stick

Picked this up about two weeks ago. It's silver and bamboo. The flattop handle/grip is an addition I made, when a previous repair by another owner proved not to be robust enough. The silver disc I put on is actually half of a broken silver cufflink...



The collar is made up of decorations of chinese figures and plants and Asian-style buildings, etc. It's basically a woodland scene.

I think something like this would've been made in China (or somewhere in SE Asia) and sold as a colonial / export piece to the western market.

 

Here you can see the repair someone else did at one point in the stick's history. It just wasn't substantial enough and broke off shortly after I bought it...



Personally, I think it was butt-ugly, so the thing breaking off and me having to repair it was a happy accident.

 

Nice job! Isn't it very satisfying when you find the appropriate piece to make a replacement!!!

 

Nice find, and perfect repair, Shangas.

Or to the Asian market. I can imagine the fashionable young Javanese Peranakan below out on the town with your walking stick. His is different, but just as stylish and it also has a silver top. Photo 1887.


https://cihc.nl/25-kleding-van-de-chinese-gemeenschap-in-nederlands-indie-4-10/

 

My that young man is stylish.

Debora

 

Very nice repair, Shangas, the cufflink is a great match!

Had to giggle at the use of the term "stylish" here!
Indeed VERY STYLISH I agree.

 

Beautiful repair, Shangas!!!

 

Thanks for the responses, everybody!

Repairing the stick was certainly an interesting adventure.

I didn't have the facilities to solder the cufflink on (and at any rate, I still had to fill the hole that you see in the photographs), so instead, I filled it up with epoxy resin, and then used the overflow from the fill to stick the cufflink on, filling the back of the link, and then manipulating it until it was centered on top of the shaft.

Once the edge of the cufflink was even all the way around (so that it formed a nice rim at the top of the handle), I left it alone to dry. I didn't want this to cave in like the other handle did (not likely - the cufflink is MUCH thicker silver), so I really overfilled it with the epoxy, to remove ANY gaps (and to improve the bond when it dried).

Overall, I think it's a great final result.

 

I really didn't know what to think, or to expect, when I tried to fix this thing. I really was pleasantly surprised when I found out that it fit so well. Exactly the right size for what I wanted!!

 

You will have to dress appropriately when you carry this to the next flea market or antique shop.

 

Just because I can't stand things looking ugly...I made one last final repair:



I used a TEENY TINY PAPER-THIN scrap of silver sheet to patch up the gap left at the bottom rim of the collar. It's simply slid in underneath the silver and pushed up into place to disguise the damage, but it's stuck in there real good, so it's not coming out for nothin'!

From a distance, it's invisible, and up-close, it looks like a repair that might've been done at any time during the stick's history, so it blends in with the battered appearance...

 

perfecto mundo!!
I like that you epoxied the cuff link on there too, rather than some solder job.
Perfect finish to the wrap!