λ A RARE AUTOMATON IVORY HANDLED WALKING CANE

λ A RARE AUTOMATON IVORY HANDLED WALKING CANE

LATE 19TH / EARLY 20TH CENTURY

carved in the form of a donkey's head, with a push-button mechanism which articulates the ears and mouth, with glass eyes, above a silver collar with a faint hallmark for London and marked 'C.C' for Charles Cooke, Brigg's Chief Stick Mounter, above a snakewood shaft and brass ferrule

89.6cm long

Catalogue Note

See Katherine Prior, 'In Good Hands, 250 Years of Craftsmanship at Swaine Adeney Brigg', pp.99-100 for a very similar donkey automaton cane attributed to the Czilinsky family of ivory and wood carvers.