The Walking Stick with a Secret
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The walking stick with a secret Picture Number Catalog 1 Men’s model Marktroller Lucerne Round chestnut wood handle on iron collar and two welded-on hooks with attached second shaft and each provided with a rubber-tire iron spoke wheel. Manufacturer or distributor: KORJAT , Lucerne (Switzerland) Around 1930, Switzerland Length: 97 cm Lender: private collection from the region You can fix the two shafts with an attached iron hook to form an isosceles triangle. In this way, a mobile walking cane is created to which the shopping bags can be attached and the function of the cane as a supporting aid is still maintained. 2 Ladies’ model Roll-Boy Solothurn Round handle chestnut wood on iron collar and two welded-on hooks with attached second shaft, both covered with brown leather and each with a rubber-tire iron wheel. Model: Roll-Boy, Swiss patent Manufacturer: Kaeser & Co., Solothurn (Switzerland) Around 1920, Switzerland Length: 91 cm Lender: private collection from the region You can fix the two shafts with an attached iron hook to form an isosceles triangle. In this way, a mobile walking cane is created to which the shopping bags can be attached and the function of the cane as a supporting aid is still maintained. 3 Gadget cane with trolley Shaft: wood, square, tapering Bow handle: wood, square with wooden wheels on opposite sides Ferrule (lower end of the cane): horn, square Around 1910 Length: 88.8 cm Lender: private collection from the region If you turn the cane over and place it on the two wooden wheels, as well as unfolding the two brass crosses attached to the shaft, you get a transport device. It allowed you to transport suitcases and boxes comfortably and effortlessly. Due to the number 16 attached to the brass sleeve, it can be assumed that this luggage trolley could be a loan object from a hotel or cruise ship. 1 / 72 The walking stick with a secret Picture Number Catalog 4 Gadget cane with scooter Shaft: ash (wood), dark stained Round hook handle: ash (wood), dark stained On the lower part a wooden wheel with rubber ring Around 1930 Lender: private collection from the region This gadget cane can be turned into a scooter by opening it. These scooters were used on large ocean liners. Stewards could thus handle the service in the cabins and on deck more quickly. How many whisky glasses were broken in the process, however, remains unknown. One can imagine how difficult the whole thing must have been at high swell. 5 Gadget cane for piano tuners Shaft: wood, painted black, stepped Fritz crutch handle: wood, reddish, painted black, hinged, unscrewable with inserted medallion of ivory Collar (transition handle to shaft): bronze, two pieces Ferrule (lower end of the cane): brass, nickel-plated and iron tip Around 1880, probably France Length: 92.2 cm Lender: private collection from the region When the fritz crutch handle is opened, a tuning key and a small screwdriver can be taken out of the hollow shaft. The stepped shaft can be unscrewed into a total of six segments. The following tools can then be taken from it: tuning key handle with wooden trays, sharp-edged screwdriver or felt hammer scraper and felt hammer smoother, tuning fork, square long tuning key, string lifting hook, square short tuning key. Manufacturer or former owner according to inlaid ivory medallion: L. Pinet Paris. 6 Gadget cane with music stand Shaft: wood, black lacquered Handle: ebony, black lacquered Collar (transition from handle to shaft): bronze Ferrule (lower end of the cane): Iron/bronze with lined bottom Engraving on music holder: AT AUG.28-(19)18 Around 1900 –1920 Length: 84.9 cm Lender: private collection from the region You can pull out the wooden handle including the collar and the metal bars hidden in the shaft are revealed. Then you can fold these metal rods out of the collar and you have a three-legged foot. The removed shaft can be replaced on it. By pulling out the ferrule, a metal rod appears, which can be assembled together with other iron parts from the shaft to form a rectangular music holder. This music holder is then placed on the three-legged shaft. Now you have a complete music stand. 2 / 72 The walking stick with a secret Picture Number Catalog 7 Gadget cane with conductor’s cane Shaft: wood, black lacquered Round handle: wood Collar (transition from handle to shaft): bone Ferrule (lower end of the cane): bone About 1890 Length: 83.7 cm Lender: private collection from the region After unscrewing the wooden round handle, a 36.3 cm long conductor’s baton can be taken out of the shaft. It is made of black lacquered wood with turned bone ends. Such gadget canes were often used by choirmasters and conductors. Bone Along with ivory, antlers, stone and wood, bone is one of the oldest materials to be used for artistically designed objects. As far back as the Paleolithic Age, this solid, but not too hard, easily workable material was used to create small objects and statues. 8 Gadget cane with tourist polyphone Shaft: wood Handle: brass tube, nickel-plated and angled ferrule (lower end of the cane): brass and iron tip Around 1930 Length: 82.8 cm Lender: private collection from the region By turning the grooved ring at the end of the handle, ten round and ten rectangular holes are released and opened on the handle surface. When you blow through the rectangular holes, a harmonica sounds, which is wonderful to play. The harmonica can be pulled out of the handle end like a bayonet for cleaning or for playing without a cane. The following engraving is on the angle handle: E. BILGER’S Touristen-Polyphon PATENT APPLIED FOR. At that time it was still something special to be a tourist. It showed that one could afford the luxury of travel. The tourist polyphon is considered a curiosity. A walking cane with a nickel-plated metal handle, which has ten rectangular holes. You could slide a harmonica into it and get the cheapest of all music canes. In 1901 the dozen cost 20 marks or 25 francs net. Nikolaus Stoecklin’s original collection number 7 is affixed to the shaft. This gadget cane comes from the collection of the famous Basel painter Nikolaus Stoecklin. He had documented all his canes on watercolor paintings. The corresponding original watercolor for this cane is also on display in the exhibition. 3 / 72 The walking stick with a secret Picture Number Catalog 9 Gadget cane with recorder Shaft: cherry wood, painted and carved to imitate bamboo. Can be dismantled into four segments. Handle: ring-shaped, small Ferrule (lower end of the cane): brass with iron tip Around 1880 Length: 68 cm Lender: private collection from the region This gadget cane can be used as a recorder. It is still well playable. The cane can be taken apart into four segments. The uppermost segment contains the blowhole in the middle of the small ring-shaped handle. This gadget cane could have belonged to a child. The flute body is inscribed: Herouard. Nikolaus Stoecklin’s original collection number 18 is affixed on the shaft. This gadget cane comes from the collection of the famous Basel painter Niklaus Stoecklin. He had documented all his canes on watercolor paintings. The corresponding original watercolor for this cane is also on display in the exhibition. Recorders Flutes have been used as musical instruments since prehistoric times. Flutes from this period are made of hollow bone and already have tone holes. Such flutes, in which the sound is produced by a windway, have been and still are found all over the world in the most varied forms. However, the most common type of flute in early medieval Europe was the panpipe-like instrument, in which pipes without fingerholes were bundled together in increasing lengths. The vertically held recorder with finger holes was introduced to Europe simultaneously from Africa by the Moors and from Asia by the Slavs. It was widespread in various forms. Evidence of recorders that could be played with both hands has been documented in Europe since the 11th century. As early as the 14th century, the recorder was one of the most important woodwind instruments. The recorder types used were still cylindrically drilled and consisted of only one piece. This made them sound mild, soft and low in overtones, which is why they were called flûte douce or flauto dolce. These sound characteristics made them particularly suitable to support singing. The recorders of the different registers already mentioned above were developed for this purpose. In the music of the baroque era, instrumental music was separated from vocal music. The sound of an instrument had to be more clearly distinguished from the sound of human singing. This was achieved for recorders by a different construction method. The body of the recorder was assembled from three parts; the tube was drilled in an inverted conical shape (narrower at the bottom than at the top) and the finger holes were placed closer together. Since the 16th century, the thumb hole on the back of the instrument was also common. The tone of the recorder thus became clearer, brighter and richer in overtones. In the further course of the 18th century recorders were replaced by transverse flutes, which had a stronger sound and was more assertive in playing together with the extended orchestras. The recorder was rediscovered in the 1920s, when efforts were made to create a sound as true to the original as possible for Renaissance and Baroque music.