Geoffrey Breeze - Antique Canes

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	Telephone: (+44) 07740 435844 Email: Geoffrey@antiquecanes.co.uk Web: www.antiquecanes.co.uk
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Geoffrey Breeze with Tall Canes

EVENTS DIARY

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The Winter Fine Art & Antiques Fair
(16-22 November 2009, London)

Click here to print your ticket.

Greetings

Welcome to my antique canes newsletter. The siren call of the Winter Fine Art and Antiques Fair (16 to 22 November) is coyly beckoning us, and we all know that we must dutifully follow to the hallowed halls in Olympia to be seduced by an array of fine furniture, stunning jewellery, old master paintings and my own display of fine antique canes, walking sticks and umbrellas.

Due to postal strikes I will NOT be posting Olympia tickets - please click the button below to print off your free ticket.

Canes of British Naval Power

In the world of cane-making there is a long and noble tradition of "relic canes" which have been made from the remains of a famous castle, palace, cathedral, bridge or ship. I am delighted to be taking to Olympia a collection of naval relic canes that features the most notable ships in the history of the British Navy over the last five hundred years. The collection includes The Victory (say no more), the Foudroyant (flagship at Trafalgar), HMS Royal George (went down with eight hundred on board) and the HMS Lion (big time operator in the Battle of Jutland).

However, the jewel in the crown is a sword cane with the handle made from oak from the Mary Rose - I repeat - oak from the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's famous purpose-built ship sunk off Spithead in the Battle of the Solent in 1545. I can find no other known example of a cane made from the Mary Rose and this particular item would have come from a dive by the Deane brothers who invented the diving suit and who carried out dive excavations off Spithead in 1836.

This collection is accompanied with a specially commissioned 50 page book with research and illustrations.

Mary Rose Cane

A collection of canes of British naval power that we are taking to Olympia.

The Collection	The Victory Cane	The Royal George Cane
The Victory Cane	HMS Lion Cane	The Foudroyant Cane

Cross-Cultural Symbolism of the Cane

I was struck by this image of Chief Red Cloud that I found at the American Museum in Bath, and I thought that I must share it with you in my newsletter. Sioux Chief Red Cloud (1822-1909) was the most successful war leader of the Sioux and the Cheyenne, and was one of the few Indians to win an armed conflict against the US army. What I found intriguing about this studio photograph was that, whilst most Indian chiefs would pose with rifles, spears or traditional Indian regalia, Red Cloud is happy with his European ivory-top promenading cane slung over his knees in a very un-European fashion, the totemic symbolism of this item obviously not lost on this warrior of America's first nation.


Geoffrey Breeze Antique Canes Office 262, 3 Edgar Buildings, George Street, Bath BA1 2FJ Tel: (+44) 077 404 35844 Email: info@antiquecanes.co.uk Web: www.antiquecanes.co.uk	Registered in England 6774154 Registered Office 52 Hickmans Close, Godstone, Surrey, RH9 8EB Director G E Breeze