Cane staff with metal mounts.

Collection type: Object
Description: Cane staff with metal mounts.
Long description: Cane staff with metal mounts. The cane is light orange coloured. The tip of the staff is covered with copper alloy metal. There is a metal band near the top of the staff. A piece of string is tied around the staff and threaded through two metal rimmed holes. At the top of the staff is a metal globular knob. The knob has a geometric design in relief. [MJD (Verve) 01/06/2015]
Geographical reference: Ghana
Africa > Western Africa > Ghana; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Cultural groups: English
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector Aylmer Howard Tynte Henry Somerset; PRM source William Horace Boscawen Somerset
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1874
Date collected: 1874
Acquisition information: Donated: 1935
Materials and processes: Material Cane Plant, Material Copper Alloy Metal, Material String, Process Carved, Process Incised, Process Bound, Process Twisted
Dimensions: Diameter: max 44 mm, Length: max 1335 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1935.29.8
Research and responses: Email correspondence with Dr Martha Ehrlich on 9 June 2015 "'malacca' isn't bamboo--it's cane: a solid material that looks like bamboo but is actually related to palms. It is more flexible and durable than bamboo, and the nodes for leaves are farther apart on the stems of this climbing plant, so they don't appear on good canes. Evidently, the PRM cane is also a "carriage cane" (actually a staff, since it is pretty long) and may have been made before 1840, because the ferrule protecting its tip is long. The metalwork (which I had assumed was brass or cuprous alloy--thanks!), may have been made in Europe, since German-speaking countries made most of the canes and staffs until the 1870s." [MJD (Verve) 12/06/2015]

Search terms: Weapon, Insignia, Staff

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