The Russ Altamore Collection

Recently, I was helping a family member of a friend and fellow toenail collector, Russ Altamore, who passed away last year prepare to take his large toenail collection to market. I had advised him on the options of selling them to a dealer in bulk, selling them on eBay one at a time, running ads in Knife World and selling them himself, or hiring an auctioneer and conducting a knife auction (a public non-online traditional auction). He weighted each of these options against his objectives and decided to go the eBay route (which I actually recommended). He successfully sold the first one on eBay but over the course of the several weeks leading up to the first sale and immediately thereafter, realized he simply didn’t have the time or inclination to continue for the next several months putting the amount of energy needed to do eBay. There were a handful of toenails in Russ' collection I had expressed an interest in and one thing led to another and we came to an agreement for me to acquire the collection.

My problem was I didn’t need but a few of the toenails for my collection, as Russ and I had many of the same knives, so I had to decide what I was going to do with the rest of them.

The other reasons-

Also, over the last several years, since I started elephanttoenails.com, I have had many collectors contact me about whether the toenails shown under The List on ET.com were for sale and wanted suggestions on where to go to find old toenails. Unfortunately, I don’t know a dealer who exclusively handles old toenails. Basically, if one comes a dealers way, he may buy it and peddle it at the next show, which is great for the handful of toenail collectors from that particular area, but does nothing for us located on the other end of this great country.

Sure we all know we can hop on a plane or get in our car to go all over the country visiting knife shows seeking toenails, and that is fun. The problem I have with that picture is what I call “time and money.” I may have two or three days of my time invested in the trip when I don’t even know for sure IF I can find a toenail I don’t have. If you are just starting out or have a relatively new toenail collection you will probably be able to find toenails to acquire to add to your collection. Those of us with mature collections may not find that Case Brothers Springville, NY Pearl we need to round out the Case Brothers in our collection, or that MSA (Marbles) Pearl or Stag toenail we are looking for.

One of the other reasons behind opening The Gallery was very similar to why I built a website totally dedicated to elephant toenails. Basically, I had become frustrated over not being able to find any detailed information about toenails, other than a tidbit here and there. The same held true about trying to find toenails for sale, which is why I decided to add The Gallery - to provide toenail collectors a place to find old toenails to add to their collections.

Since I started collecting old toenails, I have gone from auction to auction, knife show to knife show, dealer to dealer, website to website looking for these rare toenails. While I have been able find one here and there, I have not found a “place” where there are any concentration of toenails for sale, other than on eBay.

Buying Toenails on eBay?

“What about buying toenails on eBay?"  First let me say, yes, I have found toenails on eBay, but I must tell you every time I do I am not totally comfortable. For one thing, I don’t like not knowing who I am buying from and if you are like me you have probably had the unpleasant and expensive experience of buying a toenail on eBay only to learn once you got the knife that you didn’t ask enough questions, or worse, the right questions, before you bid. The thing I hate the most is what I call a “non-disclosure seller” meaning you had to ask if you want to know, otherwise, the seller isn't going to tell you. eBay may be fine for buying Pezes but it don’t’cut it when spending hundreds or thousands of dollars from sellers who don’t want to hurt their prices by telling you the problems with their knives. The other factor that discourages me from wanting to buy on eBay is- a seller who runs the bid up or has their buddy do it.

Just watch the prices to see the effect of the “buyer beware” approach sellers take to their eBay auctions. Let me ask, how many sellers offer you the ability to return the knife if you aren’t satisfied, well, not many. I have been an active buyer on eBay for many years now and can tell you not only do you have to learn the right questions to ask, you MUST learn to recognize fakes and reworks. The truth is it isn't easy. (I actually use eBay to help me buy fakes. My goal is to add an area to ElephantToenails.com on counterfeits to help collectors learn to recognize them).

Thanks for checking out The Gallery. Let me know what you think.