The popularity of the cane as a status symbol for the middle classes through the upper echelons of society reached its pinnacle in the 18th and 19th centuries at roughly the same time as many European powers reached their peaks of global power. This cane would have certainly befit a worldly British gentleman after a post in certain parts of the British Empire such as Africa or India given its subject matter. The antique ivory grip has been expertly relief carved in the form of an elephant precariously perched atop the cane. The grip is joined to the shaft with a wide silver band engraved with floral motifs and a "WP" monogram, and it appears to be marked with 1898 Birmingham hallmarks and a James Millward Banks maker's mark. It has a smooth ebonized shaft and is tipped with brass. It measures 36 1/2 inches overall. This specific cane is pictured and briefly described on p. 85 of "Canes from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century" by Snyder. Provenance: The Richard W. Carlson Collection; Property of a Gentleman

Very fine, the grip shows an attractively aged tone with a few hairline age cracks on top, an attractively aged patina on the silver and brass, and a few scattered light handling marks on the shaft and the brass tip being separated at the seam.