How many come up for sale each year?

Around 45 pieces come to market on Sellingantiques in a year, and 39 different dealers have listed in the category. That spread means the category sits across the general trade rather than being held by a handful of specialists.

What period do most of these date from?

The dealer-supplied dates run from 1700 to 1940, with 243 listings carrying a clean year. The profile clusters hard in the late Victorian to inter-war window, and the 1890s is the densest single decade. A large block, 49 listings, is dated only "19th Century". Labels like Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian are dealer shorthand rather than precise years. Earlier material appears only in the weapons tail: a 17th-century sword and one civil war group.

Which shaft timbers turn up most often?

Malacca leads by a distance, named in 73 titles. Blackthorn follows with 32, of which 26 are specifically Irish blackthorn. After those come bamboo, ebony and a long tail of one-offs: palmwood, partridge wood, hazel, cherrywood, chestnut, briar, thornwood, holly, oak, mahogany, rosewood.

Are military swords part of this category?

Yes, but as a modest minority. Officers' swords appear in 23 titles, with cavalry sabres, court and dress swords, bayonets and swagger sticks alongside them. Pattern numbers quoted include 1796, 1821, 1825, 1831, 1845, 1854, 1856, 1888 and 1899.

Why do so many titles quote hallmark dates?

Because silver is named in 103 titles, usually as the collar, mount or top, and a hallmark gives a town and a year that a dealer can put straight in the title. London dates run from 1846 to 1923 and Birmingham from 1876 to 1923, with a single Chester 1922. The assay evidence is often on the shelf label rather than buried in the description.

What are the unusual pieces in this category?

Odd one-offs turn up throughout. A gravity-fed flick-out mechanism, a three-section steel niello stick, a blue porcelain handle, a stick made from Joshua tree wood and a snakeskin-covered haft have all been listed. Masonic association is recorded in ten titles, attaching to blackthorn, malacca and ebony sticks alike, including a Masonic sword inside a silver-bound malacca cane. A small run of French gold-plated Sèvres porcelain-handled sword canes is the only group with lengths stated, at 84 to 91 cm.

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Antique Swords

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A sword stick is a walking cane with a slim blade hidden in the shaft, released by a collar or a push button, and carried as everyday personal defence when a cane was ordinary dress.