Cane

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Apart from the obvious functionality, canes were an elegant accessory in the 19th century, when the afternoon promenade gave the members of the fashionable set occasion to display their finery and genteel manners. This gentleman's novelty cane contains a 15-inch liquor vial, in the lower portion and a footed glass in the top, thereby serving the dual purpose of walking stick and portable bar. Other such gadget canes concealed knives or swords, while equivalent women's sticks sometimes held snuff bottles, powders, vials, or other cosmetic materials.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art