 Massive German Picnic With Collapsable Cup (8343)
Part of the German Picnic Collection. See #8330 for an introduction to this collection. This one really belongs in the Big canes for big Men book, however, it has a purpose for being here with the rest of the collection. I thought for many years weather I would expose this collection, and this cane is actually the one that convinced me to so.. The knob on this one is just over 3”, and the shaft, with original finish and ferrule is 1.3”. By my definition the knob is massive and the shaft is large
The reason I had such difficulty is the word that describes this cane, unbelievable. Unbelievable in a bad sense, not good. I say that because, many cane experts believe gadget canes are simple and small, and not complicated. They are therefore, automatically assumed not right ig they are. In a lot of cases they are correct, there is a lot of junk being made out there. I am trying with this book, not to convince you something is authentic or not authentic, but to teach a way to look at canes thru the eyes of those who made and used them. Big canes were not used by the masses; they were of interest to only a small minority. I’m the only minority I know today who is interested in them, but I think for a lot of you, you are surprised to see how many there are and how large they can be. They give us another dimension of the fascinating world of canes, no one has ever focused on before.
What convinced me to do this is the original item in the knob, that I’m sure would make the Guinness book of records. It’s this item that gave me the courage to publish this collection, a simple collapsible cup. Cyclist cups, were for pocket use when they stopped at a stream or spa for a drink. Catherine Dike on P.21 gives a back ground for drinking canes, and illustrates in 2/1 a silver collapsible cup “ which fits in the handle and accompanied the elegant sick who flocked to the spas of Europe during the 19th century.”
In the illustration below are 3 cups, the center one is the standard size of 2.5” in diameter and 3“in height. The one on the right is 3” in diameter and 4” high, the largest collapsible cup I have ever seen, and the one in today’s cane. The knob that it is in was obviously made for it. Here’s the point of all this, it’s too big and bulky to fit in a pocket. In all the years I collected collapsible cups, I never saw another one of this size, leading me to the conclusion it wasn’t made for pocket use. The other three previously illustrated German cup canes with compasses are also big and bulky, and I didn’t have any of those in my collection of pocket cups either. If you want something to collect that’s interesting and not expensive, pocket cups are fun. In time, however, I liked the ones in canes so much better, I sold the pocket collection. Earlier in this book I illustrated my 5 sterling cups, and I can tell you this, sterling or not, there aren’t many of you that have any, as they are not a common system stick. Someplace I saw one in a cane book that had one upside down as a handle. You could see 2 - ½ curves on the side. When you put your fingers in the curves and pull up the cup snaps off for use. This is a typical method of cover for a pocket cup. I’m not saying it was a fake, it was a handle made for another use, see gadget cane philosophy under cane forum. It wasn’t made for a cane, it was modified for a cane.
Because you can respond from the comfort of your own home, I solicit your comments. There are two buttons we all have at our disposal on this website. One is edit, if either of us find we have been wrong we can change it. The other is deleting. In a published book you can’t do that. I have seen a lot of wrong information in cane books. I exposed some of these picnic canes to the worlds most famous cane dealers at canemania 2006 and said to the entire audience, “What don’t you like about these? I put a piece of paper next to each one, so they could write down anonymously what they thought. I saw them look at them and no one responded. After the meeting I ask one what he thought and he said,” I don’t know what to think”. I already knew what he thought, and I told you what he thought above, but he wouldn’t give me his opinion, even when directly ask. He is very very nice. I was trying to get these experts to be detail specific, not blanket general. I was not successful. I can now see how naive I have been about what expectations I have of others. I'm new at this, and I'm sure I going to make a lot of mistakes, I have no one to bounce my ideas off except you.
My opinion of cane edicate is, if you are not ask, don't tell. If you are ask, say what you don't like about how it was made and let them draw thier own conclusions. If there is nothing wrong with how it was made, but it has a handle made for another use, don't be so quick to assume it's new. In my opinion, the best thing to say is, "With this type of cane, no one can tell when it was made." If you really want to be critical add, "nor how many will be made in the future." Ill spell it out, there is a lot of misinformation,and misthinking, about canes out there. Let’s assume that to you, a world cane expert, think the German picnic collection is crap, there is value in you telling why you think what you think. Even if some of them have handles made for other uses, their size and complexity alone should not define whether they are right or not. We have not even begun to see where any of these books or the canes that will be in them will take us. The only creditability I have is,I like them and they are Not For Sale. What do you think?
Category: Gadget
Sub Category: City - Manufactured
Listed: 2006-07-26 02:08:43
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