 Tiffany Doctors Cane In Sterling. (8460)
Dike shows an almost identical cane to this in 24/29 and calls it a tea merchants cane. It has two compartments in the top for 2 different teas. In the handle it has a measuring glass for measuring the tea. I'm sure if her's was tiffany she would have mentioned that. The markings on the bottom of this one with identical markings on the funnel are Tiffany and Co. 14054 makers 4977
Sterling silver, 925/1000 M. The M is for the Director of the company , which was from 1907 to 1947, John C. Moore. The 14054 is the holloware pattern number, which was first put into use in 1900. The pattern number is helpful because you know it can't be earlier than that date. In this case we know it's newer than 1907, because of the director letter M. The best site I have seen to look up these dates is www.925-1000.com It also has lots of hallmarks. The number on the right 4977 is an order number, which is only helpful if you have access to tiffanys archives. I called Tiffanys and was directed to a machine in their archive dept. The machine said to send $l00 and they would decide if they were going to try and help me. If they were going to attempt to do the appraisal there would be an additional fee of $400. I sent the $100 thinking if she called I would ask her if it was medical, she would say yes and that would be that. I remember thinking how prowd I was of myself for figuring out how to get a cheap answer, as I knew they would not be able to put a value on the cane. Did I tell you that was over 10 years ago. A few weeks later I got a call from a woman who told me if I would send the $400 they would try and tell me what it was. I then ask her point blank if she knew what it was and she said she couldn't tell me that. I don't think she had done anything except cash the check. I said I would think about it and hung up. The next week I did the Big One, Atlantic City Antique show. I ask Joel Goodman, one of the worlds greatest dealers in small treasures, what he thought about it and he said it was definitely medical, because of the funnel. How would you use a funnel for tea. It was used for mixing medicines. He thought her funnel was missing, and she was going by the measuring markings on the glass. The measuring is in table and tea spoons, not scientific measurments. Does that negate Catherine Dikes being right. I don't think it does. We don't know what information she had to make that choice of use. I knew mine was medical because of other reasons that go beyond the handle use. I have two others with similar uses of the handles, all with funnels and all with medicine bottles in the shaft to go along with the handle use. They are English and both are illustrated in this book.
This one has a cherry hand carved shaft with two snakes. It has the original finish with original American bimetal ferrule, with 5 medicine bottles, all with hand written labels.
In the end, I think we will find that these handles are all rare antique pieces, and that they were also made for pocket use. Catherine said of this handle, and I quote, "As this object can be bulky in the pockets, it is more convenient to transport it on a cane knob." I've been to 1000's of antique shows in 40 years and I've never seen another Tiffany like this, for any use. Have you?
Category: Gadget
Sub Category: Occupational - Tools
Listed: 2006-07-22 13:52:56
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