1900s Michigan Football Walking Cane

See the above photo, this was recently offered up on eBay.  Please tell me the top screws off to hold whiskey.  The seller offered little to explain how old it is or what it was used for beyond this:

I was told this cane probably dates back to around 1900 to 1920 & it was probably some kind of silver plated metal, I got this from a woman who was from Michigan and she said that her Grandfather had it and she was pretty old herself. I was trying to do some research on this cane and I did read that the seniors use to make their own canes as early as the late 1800’s but in the 1920’s the seniors strutted around campus on “CANE SUNDAY” and I do not know why or what this cane is about maybe some famous coach or player used it.

Thankfully Michigan Today writer Jim Tobin, in this April 2010 piece, explored the history of canes at the University of Michigan.

I’ll have to swing by the Bentley Library to check out their collection of these canes.

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