Extraordinary Carved Cane in the Form of a Handsaw Alanson Porter Dean (1812-88), Owego, New York, Thanksgiving 1880 Carved and painted maple or boxwood, the handsaw grip formed of entwined serpents continuing over bas-relief of Adam & Eve dated 'Thanksgiving 1880', the reverse bearing the artist's initials in sign language over the inscription 'Owego NY', shaft densely filled with blocks of Biblical text and aphorisms - 'No man's religion ever survives his morals' - alternating with illustrations of animals in Psalm 50:10.11, 'all creatures, from the wildest forest animal to the cattle on a thousand hills' (Psalm 50:10), continuing to double-tapered base fitted with nickel ferrule and steel tip, overall wd. 5 1/2, ht. 34 1/4 in. Footnotes: Provenance Collection of Eddi Van Auken, California. The handle is inscribed 'Born July 26th 1804 / S.M. DEAN ROSELLE N.J.', for Dean's oldest brother Simeon Martin Dean (1804-94), who lived in Roselle, New Jersey only briefly. Literature Illustrated in Vertical Art: The Enduring Beauty of Antique Canes and Walking Sticks (2008), cat. no. 179. Note Master carver Alanson Porter Dean (1812-88) was born into a family of tanners in Taunton, Massachusetts, and lived in Berkshire County and Fredericksburg, Virginia, before settling in Owego, New York. 'He is known to have made several canes, each replete with complex carved religious and moral messages, a number of which he presented to prominent personages such as P.T. Barnum and U.S. Presidents James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur,' (Vertical Art, no. 179). Colonial Williamsburg has two Dean canes in its collection, and one is featured in George H. Meyer, American Folk Art Canes (Bloomfield Hills: Sandringham Press, 1992), fig. no. 212. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing