"Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far"... a West African proverb used by President Roosevelt in Chicago in 1903.

Welcome to my NewsLetter and I would like to invite you all to join me at the Battersea Decorative Antiques Fair in Battersea Park which runs from 30 September to 5 October 2008. This must be the funkiest antique fair in Britain with an eclectic display of biting-edge furniture, decorative items and way-out pieces for the hippest pads in the metropolis. Known for its stylish ambience, it regularly attracts the good and the great from the world of music and the arts including Sir Bob Geldof, Brian Ferry, Simon and Yasmin Le Bon, Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons. Come on and mingle!

I, of course, will be there with an exciting array of canes and umbrellas which will include a collection of "bordello canes". These are known for the erotic and often highly artistic nature of the handles which range from the mildly titillatory to the blatantly graphic. They would be sported by young bloods and old rakes whilst carousing in houses of ill-repute. These are rare and highly sought-after items in the world of ambulism and those of you of a sensitive nature are requested to avert your eyes from the accompanying illustration.

Your Company Is Requested ...

Battersea Decorative Antiques Fair
(30 September-5 October 2008)

My next fair and, in my opinion, the friendliest and most stylish antique fair in Britain.

To request an invitation click here.

International Cane Conference in Paris
(9-11 October 2008)

Be there or be square, an international cane jamboree. Ambulists from all over Europe and America will be in Paris from 9 to 11 October to attend Canemania 2008. Come and join us for cane auctions, cane lectures, gala evening, cane swapping, meeting fellow cane collectors ... you get the picture.

Register at www.canemania2008.com. Do it now and we will have a great party in Paris in October.

Winter Fine Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia
(10-16 November 2008)

The big one! The best, the finest, the wildest! Come and join me at Olympia and enjoy one of the world’s best antique fairs. Further details in the next newsletter.

Snakewood - or piratinera guianensis - is a dense hardwood that grows in the forests of South America. It is rare, expensive and very difficult to work with due to its hardness. Reddish brown in colour, it gets its name from the irregular, horizontal black markings that resemble the skin of a snake. Snakewood has long been regarded as the finest wood for a cane due to its wonderful colour and sheen. When held in the hand, a snakewood cane has a swing, weight and balance that cannot be surpassed.

Francis Monek in "Canes Through the Ages", informs us that in 1905 an unprepared piece of snakewood suitable for a cane shaft cost $400. This was equivalent to an average wage for one year! Unfinished and with no ferrule or handle! If we were to work this out in today's money we can see how much gentlemen were happy to pay for a fine cane and how much this material was valued. Check your collection and note how snakewood was used on only the finest canes... and remember that whenever you see this material you are looking at an item that was from the luxury end of the market.