C006 - Collector's item: an old rustic oak walking stick/cudgel.
Length 31.5 inches (80 cm)
Another trophy from my stick-hunt around the Cotswold antique shops...
At first glance it was just a crude piece of wood with a ferrule on the end, a simple country walking stick. Basically that's exactly what it is, but I'm sure it has a tale to tell. Firstly, it's rather short for a walking stick, although it would make a fine support for a shorter person. Then, it's not just any old piece of wood, but a carefully-selected, tapered oak branch with a knob-end. Gripped near the base of the stick, it's perfectly balanced for use as a very effective club. Whether it was used offensively or defensively there is no way of telling.
The wood has been polished smooth with handling and has that beautiful deep
patina that only comes with great age and many years of constant use.
I couldn't even hazard a guess at its actual age, it's quite timeless - I
would think it could be anywhere between a hundred and three hundred years old.
It would probably need an expert in dendrochronology to come up with the answer.
I note that the original Irish shillelagh was in fact an oaken club, not blackthorn as generally assumed nowadays. (The word originally applied to an oak sapling, from a wood of that name noted for its oak trees). Could this be an original shillelagh?
The big question is whether the original owner (and his/her successors) was a "goodie" or a "baddie". Poacher or gamekeeper? Footpad or prudent traveller? Bailiff or little old lady? Unfortunately we will never know... or perhaps fortunately? There's nothing like a bit of mystery to fire the imagination!
Ah well, this particular mystery has been...
SOLD