Unusual glow-in-the-dark walking cane that could fetch $500,000 when it goes under the hammer.
The cane’s original owner, Ella White, used the illuminated walking cane to guide her lifeboat, as well as alert rescuers to their whereabouts.
“Mrs. J. Stuart (Ella) White didn’t help row [lIfeboat] No. 8, but she appointed herself a sort of signalman. She had a cane with a built-in electric light, and during most of the night she waved it fiercely about attempting to signal rescue ships,” according to the book “A Night To Remember” (R & W Holt, 1955) by Walter Lord.
Cane From Titanic
After reading The Post’s account of the sale, two Manhattan brothers — White’s great-grandnephews — informed the auctioneer that the battery-operated cane disappeared from their Upper East Side childhood umbrella stand in the early ‘70s.
“We’ve always wondered what happened to it,” said John Hoving, 61, who, with his brother, Samuel now intends to challenge the auction.
The cane is being offered for auction by its current owner, Brad Williams, 59, of Milford, Conn., is also a great-grandnephew of White, who’s insisted he inherited it fair and square.
“It’s family history, so I do I have trepidation about parting with it,” Williams has said. “But I also have to pay for college,” for his kids, Williams said.
Cane From Titanic
