Souvenir handmade walking stick for the 25th anniversary of Gettysburg--auction result???

[cannon jockey]

I've been known to make some questionable purchases as a collector but I can't for the life of me figure this one out.   I also know that in any auction on any particular day it only takes two determined bidders to make something like this happen.

 

There was an auction on this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of mostly ACW collectibles held by an auction house located appropriately in Gettysburg.    This item sold on Friday the first day of theevent.    I had a couple of pre-bids in on some stuff on Saturday and Sunday but started watching early to see if I could get a feel for how the bidding was going to go.   I had bid an a decent 1855 Springfield plus a nice Pattern 1853 Enfield that was most likely issue in the South but came up short on both.  It was pretty lively overall with hardly any bargains to be found, but the 8th item in the ring sort of flummoxed me.   I had no real interest in it personally but It was a 33 inch long hand fashioned wooden walking stick made fashioned form a semi-straight tree branch.  The surface bark had been removed and the wood treated with either stain or by burning to have an odd unnatural leopard skin pattern having one section blocked off with the words  “1863 Devils Den 1888”.    It was evidently made for a 25 year reunion for the battle.   So I think to myself:  OK, it's kind of neat and of course a lot of people collect veteran reunion mementos.   There was no price estimate and not much in the way of a write up other than what was in the title.  There was no provenance linking it to someone well known--no history or background.    

 

Here's a link to the closed auction with the final bid.  There were more pictures than the one I linked, but nothing indicating it's actual origin.  No former owner, or origin story other than what one would simply surmise from what was shown.

 

Gettysburg-Wood walking Stick--25th Anniversary Reunion

 

As I watched in amazement the bidding just didn't seem to stop.   It went for $3050 plus a 19% buyer's premium or another $580.   The buyer was onsite.   I didn't think to watch where the counter bidding was coming from--online or onsite.  I know the den was a hotly contested bloody segment of the battle but this piece could have been made at any time by anybody.  Heck, there were some pretty nice condition original swords and rifle muskets that went for less--even some stuff with pretty solid links to Confederate usage.

 

What am I missing?

 

 

 

Cheers

[sundance]

I've only seen 1 other of these . It was in an antique shop and also mentioned the reunion story but I recall it mentioning the 50th reunion. It looked identical but had Gettysburg written on it instead of Devils Den and no date.  It was priced at about $125. That was a couple of years back.  Wish I had grabbed it if this is what they're worth. I'd love to hear what others have to say.

[doyler]

I posted a veteran's cane here on the forum that I found at an auction in the early 1990s when I was hitting auctions in the area on weekends. I sent off to see if I could get info on the veteran. My stick is made of diamond willow which was common. I attended another auction 5-6 years ago and there was a stick there from Gettysburg a veterans had carved. Don't recall where the price ended but there was a phone bid or two that drove it up and was the eventual buyer of the stick. Guess I need to either put mine up for auction or use it. 

[doyler]

Found the topic I stared where I added the walking stick. This one I own also had the two tone or shading of the wood to make the designs stand out which is typical of the walking sticks I have seen of the era and other carvings. The cane is shown on the first page and additional photos are on the second page

 

Mine is marked to a Colored Infantry Regiment. When I found this at the auction it was in a brass umbrella stand with several yard sticks, canes and umbrellas.

 

https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/145257-things-we-collectthat-have-a-military-connection/

[mdk0911]

I too was watching this auction and did win a piece on Saturday.

I was watching this item and was trying to see why this went for such a high price??

A lot of items in this 3 days auction were sold for a lot more then I think they were worth, plus 19% auction fee on top!.

Most of the items were from one person as I talked to the auction house last night to pay for my win.

 

 

 

[cannon jockey]

6 hours ago, mdk0911 said:

I too was watching this auction and did win a piece on Saturday.

I was watching this item and was trying to see why this went for such a high price??

A lot of items in this 3 days auction were sold for a lot more then I think they were worth, plus 19% auction fee on top!.

Most of the items were from one person as I talked to the auction house last night to pay for my win.

 

Yeah, there were definitely a few bidders with deep pockets participating in that auction.   There were a few rare Burnside carbine accessories that were in the auction.  Since I had purchased a really nice carbine in shooting condition about a month ago, I placed fixed pre-bids on all of them.   I usually avoid getting involved in the live bidding because it's just too easy to get caught up in it.     However, I didn't come close on any of them.   One of the molds went for like $1000 plus $190 premium.   That's about half of what I paid for the carbine.  Yikes!

[iron bender]

It's said beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that's a really interesting Gettysburg veteran's piece.... but not $3500 interesting. At least not to me.

[sundance]

Does anyone think these are not legit items made for civil war and Gettysburg reunion attending vets? I want them to be legit but this discussion has revolved around the value. I wouldn't pay that price unless I had much deeper pockets (and I had an ancestor killed on Little Round Top).

[iron bender]

Provenance would be nice at this price point, my .02

[sundance]

That is a very interesting look to the walking stick. Not being a walking stick maker, I wonder how you get that mottled look on the wood. Also, I wonder who was making them - local craftsmen & craftswomen (craftspeople?) I'd guess. 

[AustinO]

Have seen a few of these for various CW battlefields, I'm sure they were sold at the different GAR gatherings. They were doing the same thing in 1919 Germany - I even have a photo of some Dutch traveling cane salesmen with bundles of them.  

 

I can only assume that your high bidder was trying his best to keep a grouping together, but even if the previous owner was a MoH recipient I don't think it would be worth 4 grand. ,

 

I think a more realistic value is in the $250 range, they really aren't that rare. 

[manayunkman]

I took the liberty to post Ron’s cane because of its beauty and history.

 

Id pay up for this one.

 

Back in 2006 I sold a small collection of the civil war items I had accrued over the years. 
 

I had a cane of the same wood commemorating a battle, carved with the names of all the Generals that had been killed, it sold for big money.