Gotta watch out
Catt blade on Case TESTED frame
Did you happen to notice the “RARE” Cattaraugus that was on eBay a week or so ago, and came back a few days ago?
It could have been a Holy grail of such…a single bladed Catt!!
Here’s his description:”I purchased this Extremely Fine & Extremely Rare Cattaraugus over 35 years ago. I have Collected Cattaraugus Cutlery for many many years. This has been one of my Finest Knives and is by far the Rarest. I have had Dozens of Sunfish , King of the Woods and other Rare Catts , but this Single Blade Toenail was only made in this Pattern in a small number of about 6 to 10 by Cattaraugus in their early years. This was a Sampler Knife for Salesmen. It is Quite Large , 4 1/2 Closed and 7 1/2 open. It has Old Beautiful Greenbone Scales with a Unique Rodgers style Pattern , (like CaseXX). Scales are Perfect without any cracks or Damage, and Have the Beautiful Bowtie Style Escusion Plate. The Large Single Blade is Very Full with Good Deep Stamping. There are a few Spots (peppering) throughout , but nothing to devalue this Beautiful Rare Knife. It has been Very Well Kept , and is so Dam Rare , it would’nt matter if only half the blade was there !!! I used to attend all the Big Shows, 30+ years ago , and in all the years , I have only seen 1 other like this and Heard about another which was in a private collection , Not For Sale ! This Entire Knife is Beautiful and as close to Mint as it Gets. I can pretty much Guarantee that you won’t find another and especially this Origional and Clean. Still retains Origional Patina and has not been over cleaned like most minty knives out there. I am very sorry for the Poor Pictures, My camera just wont let me get the type of Pics I want. I wanted to show these Beautiful Brown Toned Scales , but they look Black in the pics. They are not Black , They are Brown toned Greenbone !! Well Guys, Here Goes , Don’t Miss out on this one , It’s the Best and Rarest Cattaraugus you will ever own !! So much nicer in your Hand ! Paypal Only for this Auction , Payment Due at Auctions Close. Shipping $5.00 in the U.S.A. Thank You !”
Don’t you agree he makes all the classic representations that sellers typically do when they are hocking a knife-
One of a kind; Salesman Sample; Made in Catts early years; You won’t find another like it (so it is ok that it there isn’t another like it anywhere, sk) Etc.
Here’s what the seller said in his response to my questions about a couple of his representations in his description. I was particularly interested in his statement about it being a salesman’s sample and his statement about there being only 6 to 10 made, as I am always trying to learn and do ask questions, but here is the fellows response:
“Many years ago when parker and a few older collectors were still alive, several of us searched high and low for Cattaraugus History. I must have talked to a thousand good hard core collectors to gain any info I could about Cattaraugus. This was back in the 70’s. This Knife and one other of the same pattern were studied and shown around.Through everything we found, it was determined that this was a sampler(no pattern number) that was only produced as such , never produced for the open market, We deceided that Cattaragus chose the 2 bladed model, and stuck to this pattern. This does resemble a Case Tested, But Case never made a single bladed Toenail that I know of, and if it was restamped, this would show on the Tang thickness. Grind and Tang would probably meet. Also , heat treat would not allow a good restamping.There are also Old Pepper spots and spider webbing on tang , which would have disappeared. If you look at a couple of the Larger Catts 12919-L 12919 , 21559 , 32916, 42079 you will also see the Shields are exactly as mine.This Knife also has a Full Split Backspring which is like no others , Case , Kabar, NYK , or any of the larger early Cut Co. I believe this is 100% Cattaraugus and have never Questioned it , neither did many Good Old Collectors. It is just a Pattern that you do not see. I have only seen 1 other and that was also about 30 or so years ago. It was not in the shape mine is in. I hope this helps Scott, I wish I could lead you to a book , but sometimes it is just not there. I was fortunate to collect at a time when there were still some good old men who Remembered things that were not in the Books. Long Pull or Nail Nick were factory preferance. Can’t tell you why they did not do both as on later Toenails. Thanks for the interest !
The more puffery type talk he gave me the more I didn’t believe him and drew a conclusion he knew it was a fake. Did you see it? it? I couldn’t help but see it. I wanted to get my grubby hands on it to study it. The guy swore he had had it for 35 years and sold it and then bought it back years later. All the typical “one of a kind” type talk. The guy told me via email it was made by Catt and predated the two bladed Catt toenail- yeah, right. I asked him ‘What led him to that conclusion?’ and he went on to say, he used to travel the knife show circuit and at that time “showed the knife to all the “experts” and that he has ‘only see one other like it.”
Then Mr. X (he never would give me his name) went to say “It has been at shows with me back in the 70’s. I did have many offers , but just kept it. Parker and some of his friends were a few that wanted it. Parker was one who asked me every time we seen each other , Are you ready to sell ! Instead of selling , I kept it and Listened to many many opinions. I actually never got Bad feedback , Just offers and praise. I have had many Catt’s and handled many good Knives through the years , but none quite as Unique as this. I did see 1 other like this but it was not in as good of shape. I took it off the auction, because I decided I like it too much. You cannot believe how many people have tried to buy it , but now they have missed out.”
I actually made the guy an offer because I am building a group of counterfeits to add to ET.com (so yes, I’m spending my money so I can show you guys and gals what reworked and fake toenails look like). When I made the offer, he pulled it from the auction.
Then he came back to put it up with a lower BUY IT NOW price of $450 and somebody believed his pitch and bought it.
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