WALKING STICK, AMERICAN: MID-NINTEENTH CENTURY

Ebonized wood, gold-handled and "gem"-set, engraved with scrolling rococco foliage and name of owner in script. Length: 35¼ in.; 895mm.

Isaac Leeser (Leeser Estate, Raynor's, February-2007, lot 545)

Lance Sussman, Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism, Wayne State University Press, 1996

Ebonized wood, gold-handled and "gem"-set, engraved with scrolling roccoo foliage and name of owner in script (35 1/4 in; 895mm.)
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

issac leeser's walking stick.

More than any other person of his time, Isaac Leeser (1806–1868) envisioned the development of a major center of Jewish culture and religious activity in the United States. He single-handedly provided American Jews with many of the basic religious texts, institutions, and conceptual tools they needed to construct the cultural foundation of what would later emerge as the largest Jewish community in the history of the Jewish people. In addition to his decades of service in the pulpit of Philadelphia's congregation Mikveh Israel, where he was the first to introduce a regular English sermon into the synagogue service Isaac Leeser's accomplishments as an architect of the American Jewish community include the founding of the first Jewish Publication Society (1845), the first Hebrew high school (1849), and Maimonides College, the first American Jewish rabbinical seminary, in 1867.  A prolific writer, in 1843 he founded the monthly The Occident, the first successful Jewish newspaper in America. For 25 years, this was an important forum for articles on Jewish life and thought.

The present lot is a rare relic of the man who exerted the greatest influence on the developement of traditional Judaism in nineteenth- century America.