About Me
"...having as much fun as I did when I was a kid collecting rocks."
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Elephanttoenails.com is not about me. You can tell, however, it is not the site of a dealer or knife manufacturer. I am instead, an individual collector, who has gotten off on old Elephant Toenails.
I am happily married and a father of four precious children. My real job is as an owner of a national real estate auction company. We market high-end, non-distressed, "Trophy" properties throughout North America. I have the opportunity to meet many highly successful people, many of whom are collectors of one thing or another. Recently, I met with a man in LA who owns a collection of over vintage 1700 guns.
Growing up I had a few knives, probably no more than any other kid though. My first real collection was of rocks. As odd as that sounds, I had a blast building my collection, only later to specialize in collecting rocks with holes all the way through them.
My knife interest as a kid was limited to buying a knife from wherever our family went on vacation. I did, however, always have an interest in knives, but didn't begin collecting them until one particular day when I was coming back from Dallas, Texas.
How I came to collect Elephant Toenails
I clearly remember the day it all began. I was on my way back to DFW airport after a business meeting in Dallas, Texas. I had some time before I needed to be at the airport, so I drove north and found the GrapeVine Mall, where there is a store named OutdoorWorld, or something to that effect. While looking around, I noticed an area of the store devoted to knives. They had what looked to be probably a hundred different knives displayed. I was causally looking them over, and one particular knife caught my eye. It was a Boker Titanium Super Liner.
Needless to say, I bought it. Obviously, those were the days when you could still carry knives on airplanes. I realize this Super Liner is the pole opposite of an antique toenail, but this how I got back into collecting knives.
I wasn't familiar with Boker, but began getting on-line to look at the different patterns they made. Boker made some really cool knives- knives with ceramic blades, titanium handles, in addition to Michael Walker collaborations. So, I started buying Bokers, with no real direction, and was buying them through various on-line stores and on eBay.
I also began studying the Boker firm and became intrigued with their history. H. Boker began in the mid-1800s in Solingen, Germany. As I learned more about Boker's history from knife books and old Boker catalogs, I found myself shifting from current productions to the old H. Boker & Co. knives. I realized the older ones were more valuable and would not only hold their value, but would appreciate in value quicker than new knives, plus my interest in the historical aspect of knives only further added to this decision.
 A 1940s Boker display case filled with various old Bokers.
That Big Old Fat Knife
One evening I was studying Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values, 4th edition when I stumbled across this really odd looking knife. It was the most unusual knife I had ever seen. It was a fat knife, short, kind of stubby, and very wide. It was a Sunfish, or Elephant Toenail.
I will never forget that occasion when I first saw that toenail. It just jumped out and grabbed me. I knew right then and there, I had to collect them. Levine pointed out that the old elephant toenails were rare. Old sunfish were made a long time ago, during a whole different era, an era without jet airplanes, fax machines, email and computers. Many of them were made over a hundred years ago.
I was fascinated. My study into H. Boker & Co. and its rich history only gave me a deeper appreciation for the old American Brands. So, I decided to make a concentrated effort to locate Toenails, I especially wanted one of those big fat Platts swellcenters like the one pictured in Levine's price guide.
I had been buying the old Bokers on eBay, so I decided to search for Sunfish. I found all the auctions I could stand; however, they were current productions. As most new collectors do, I started buying new Toenails/Sunfish, like Case Classics, Fight'n Rooster, John Primble, Smith & Wesson, Winchester, etc. They were easy to find, in fact you can buy as many of them as you can afford.
Then one day I found a Case Tested Circle C jigged Brown Bone, my first antique Toenail.
It was around that time I decided to try to limit my collection of Toenails to purchasing only old Toenails. I subsequently sold all my current production Toenails and started selling my Boker collection.
"The Dilemma"
I began aggressively searching for old toenails. I went to the knife shows in my area and began talking to dealers. I was in the hunt. I even decided to run an ad in the National Knife Collector Association's publication, the Gazette, promoting my interest in purchasing toenails, especially jumbo swellcenters. Then one day I get this call. I'll never forget. I was in a meeting in my office at the time the call came in. The man stated he had seen my ad in the Gazette and was calling to see if I was still looking for old toenails. WAS I STILL LOOKING FOR OLD TOENAILS?? You bet I was! He went on to tell me he had several jumbos plus many others and he wanted to sell them. I couldn't believe my ears. The man said he had SEVERAL JUMBOS! And he wanted to sell them. I could hardly contain myself. Not really knowing what to say, I asked him if he was a dealer. He told me he was not, but that he was a collector and had been collecting toenails for a number of years. About this time, I had motioned to the guys I was meeting with that I needed to take this call and they left. Still not knowing what to say, I mumbled, "So, how many do you have?"His answer 'bout knocked me from my chair.
Mr. AB Haines replied, "over a hundred old ones, plus some customs." Oh my gosh, by this time my heart was pounding in my chest. I realized immediately, I had a problem- a really big problem. This man was offering me the opportunity to purchase a collection he had spent 20 years accumulating. I also knew if I turned him down I would probably never in my lifetime have the opportunity to locate and acquire a collection of this magnitude or even to be able to build a collection like AB's. I was like a kid being offered the whole candy store. Oh, why did I ever run that ad? Now I had a major problem on my hands.
He started rattling off some of what he had. The list included all the ones you would expect to hear. He had them in all different handle materials. Needless to say I wanted them all. I couldn't keep up. I tried to write them down as he called them off. Can you imagine the quandary I was in?
Very long story short- I decided to call a couple of respected dealers I knew to ask if they knew Mr. Haines. Both dealers confimed that they did know him and had sold him toenails over the years. That was all I needed, so after a couple of weeks of "talks," I bought them (except for the customs) and they now make up the majority of the toeanils shown on this site. Since that time I have continued to add to my collection of vintage toenails.
The Reasons For Elephanttoenails.com
I decided to build ET.com for two reasons. First, was to provide a "place" collectors could go to in order to access detailed information about this wonderful pattern. I had experienced extreme frustration when I began trying to find out more about them due to the lack of information out there. Yes, there are a few references to toenails in some of the knife books, but if you wanted to learn more....well there was no were to go. I wanted to know which cutlery firms produced them and how many different toenails were made back in the "Golden Era." It was primarily for this reason I decided to develop this site so that other collectors didn't become discouraged due to the very limited resources available to them. The second reason for the site was to have a means by which to allow others to participate in the enjoyment of this assemblage of toenails, so I decided to build elephanttoenails.com. It is not my intent to "show them off;" instead, it is my desire to share them with others who enjoy old toenails.
Since I built ET.com I have had several collectors send me pictures of Toenails I didn't have included on the site so some of the knives shown under The List are owned by other collectors and are indicated as such.
While I am still am "in the hunt," I am especially pleased to have found that big old fat Platts swellcenter that got it all started- well actually it found me .
I hope you enjoy elephanttoenails.com.
Scott King
scott@elephanttoenails.com
"".....having as much fun as I did when I was a kid collecting rocks."
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