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| 111 - A neat little Brighton walker stick in ox-horn and blackthorn with
enamelled silver collar. Maximum overall length approx. 39 inches / 99 cm. | 
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| The horn handle came from a very sad-looking old stick that really didn't suit
it at all. The shank was much too thick and the whole thing was held together
with string and willpower. I used the old shank for a Womble stick a couple of
years ago, and put the handle to one side until something just right turned up.
Eventually this slim piece of blackthorn came along and I set to work. Now,
strictly speaking, the fact that I'd used a handle from an old stick wouldn't
qualify this as a Womble stick. However, I have used a silver ring as a collar
so I reckon that does the trick. |
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| The "Brighton walker" is a sort of mini-market stick. The handle is smaller,
has a much shorter neck than a market stick, and is round-shouldered. This is
an ideal shape for the short solid tip of a cow/ox horn. This example was in a pretty rough state and I spent quite some time sanding it
down to remove the imperfections. Once I had re-polished it, the lovely
chocolate and cream colouration was revealed and I knew my efforts had been
worthwhile. | 
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| I found an enamelled silver ring of just the right size in my collection of
things-that-might-come-in-handy. This came from Thailand and is marked as 925
silver. However, being a ring, the marks are on the inside - so you'll just
have to take my word on that! | 
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| The blackthorn shank is smooth enough and straight enough to look quite
elegant, but knobbly enough to have plenty of character. If you look carefully
there's even just a hint of the "twisty" marks where a honeysuckle vine had
started to climb up the stem. This stick is stronger than its thickness might suggest and would make a fine
companion for either a lady or gentleman. |   
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SOLD |