Cane

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Apart from their obvious functionality, canes were an elegant accessory in the 19th century, when the afternoon promenade gave members of the fashionable set occasion to display their finery and genteel manners. This gentleman's novelty cane conceals an elaborately engraved and monogrammed sword blade. While technically functional as a sword, the absence of a proper grip and guard make the cane more suited to braggadocio than actual dueling. Another such gadget cane in the Brooklyn collection (2009.300.1125a–e) contains a liquor vial and tiny drinking glass. 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