I need a cane!

I really would like to have a proper cane for my collection - or better still a few of them in different sizes and weights. After all, we can all easily now get educated via the internet about the differences between kooboo canes, dragon canes, rattan and so on. There are plenty of adult websites offering "Junior", "Senior" and "Reformatory" models. There's also plenty of shops you can go to purchase one on the spot. There's even modern high-tech versions offered in lexan, fibreglass or carbon fibre. I'm sure they are very effective at delivering a good sharp sting. The trouble is, I don't feel attracted to buying any of them because they're just too perfect - they don't look like the real thing.I have seen a real school cane during my schooldays and the ones widely on sale today just don't excite me like a 'real' one would. Occasionally there are ones offered for sale on auction sites that do claim to be ones that were actually once used in schools and there is something just different about them. It's not just the history either. Take a look at these:-

Now I'm not naive enough to think that everything auctioned on the internet as genuine really is, but there's something about these that looks different from the almost mass produced ones generally offered for sale. And, let's face it, the 'history' aspect - the thought they have probably been used across the hands or backside of some erring pupil in the past does add something.That's never more true than in this final, and rather unusual, example I found a while ago on an auction site along with a story about it's previous use.

[This cane] belonged to a female pal who went to a girls school in Birmingham in the early 1960s. The cane itself was once a standard rattan crooked handle style of 36", and belonged to the deputy headmistress until one day my friend decided to hide it and put it in a trough outside the school which contained water and, unbeknown to her, a green algae. Unfortunately it was reported to the deputy and found. The algae overnight had imparted a green dye into the cane and it was split about halfway down. The deputy, being very resourseful had acquired a handle from an old woodworking tool and decided upon a bit of DIY. The next day my friend was summoned and received six of the best (which in days gone by was a common occurance) but the cane being of much shorter length was easier to control. What made it more interesting the first time it was used it left green marks on my friends skirt, which she couldn't remove. When her mother saw what had happened, she actually wrote a letter to the deputy thanking her for punishing her daughter (my oh my, how things have changed). The cane is 20"inches long and the handle 8". The green is still very much visible (which I think should stay), there is a nice patination on the cane. This is an interesting relic from school history. Strangely enough there was no animosity between my friend and the teacher who, when she retired, gave it to her as a memento.