Here we have a 1930s sterling silver mounted walking cane with a handle in the form of an antique bocce ball. It copies the English lawn bowling version, with turned rings circling an orange center disc. Full-size balls like this rolled across club greens. This one was shrunk to fit a palm, and the wood sits warm and dense in the hand.
Real bowling balls of this kind were shaped a little lopsided so they curve on the green. This one rides dead straight on a stick, which may be the only time the game ever behaved. The silver collar under it is stamped BENZIE COWES. That is the Isle of Wight jeweler that dropped a ball off its own roof at noon so the Royal Navy could set its clocks. I have searched and found no other Benzie cane with a bocce ball handle.
Simpson Benzie opened his shop on Cowes High Street in 1862. His son Herbert Simpson Benzie took it over and ran it until his death in 1952. The collar carries an H.B.S maker's mark, attributed by silver dealers to Herbert, beside the London lion passant and leopard's head. A separate BENZIE COWES retailer stamp sits to the right. Benzie struck its own maker's mark here instead of retailing a bought-in collar, so the stick was likely assembled to order. The black-letter date letter is worn and places the collar circa 1930-1935.
This early gaming cane came out of a serious collector’s estate in Twin Cities. The ball appears to be lignum vitae, the dense tropical wood long used for bowls. No inscription says whether a player or a club stood behind the commission.
The rare Benzie cane measures 37 1/2 inches tall and has a 1 1/2” diameter of the bocce ball. There is beautiful light surface patina throughout the cane. The orange center disc shows light surface losses and scratches across its face. The ball has small dents and a few pale nicks, and the white metal ferrule is worn at the tip. Expect tarnish on the collar and light scuffs along the lower shaft. The collar is tight and the shaft runs straight. Please see all pics as they are part of the description.
I ship FedEx to street addresses in the continental USA only (no PO Boxes). Free shipping on the only bocce ball that goes where you point it.
Benzie kept time for the Royal Navy. This stick has kept quiet for about ninety years and seems in no hurry to start talking.
