Basel - The secret cane, the incredible world of gadget canes

Exposition at Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel, 18 April 2020-4 October 2020

Gadget canes created by inventive minds are certainly the most fascinating and collectable canes. This category brings together strange variants of canes with a hidden function such as a fan, an umbrella, a bottle accompanied by a glass, a perfume bottle or a blade. There are also canes used by doctors in which hide scalpels and syringes. It is also possible to hide musical instruments, fishing rods, telescopes, sewing tools or even corkscrews. During the 18th and 19th centuries, over 1500 patents were filed. The two essential characteristics of gadget canes are to hide something and to combine several objects or characteristics. Some give the gadget cane more romantic names like Living Cane or Ingenious Cane.