The News from ElephantToenails.com

Join me in expressing our gratitude to all who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Memorial Day gives us an appointed day of the year to appreciate the price that was paid by the men and women who died in service to our country.

On Monday, the last Monday in May, at 2:00 Central Time, a national moment of remembrance takes place. Let us plan to participate in this memorial.

I was contacted by a reputable dealer recently making me aware of a super nice Platts Jumbo Swellcenter he had available. He deals in only the best of the best.

Check it out-

She’s a beaut that is for sure! Of course, a minty knife like this has a minty price- just a few dollars under $6000.

If you know where any Jumbos are out there for sale better grab them while you can. If and when they get hard to find, then you will see prices that will take your breath…..

One day I’ll post the prices for Jumbos were for sale for back in the early 80’s. You will be amazed at how affordable they were then (at least to us today anyway). We will probably look back and feel the same way 10 years from now.

If you are interested in this one let me know and I’ll hook you two up.

It happened to me a few weeks ago as I was continuing my research and tidbit gathering on Miller Brothers Cutlery Co. While I confess not to be the most qualified researcher out there, I have been able to locate some fairly good bits and pieces on Cutlery Companies including old knife boxes, postcards, letters, canceled checks, photos, etc. These items give us a very brief glimpse of a particular instant in time- Freezing time for us to see it as it was back then.

As you probably know, one of the most interesting aspects of collecting vintage toenails is being able to look through the window provided by such memorabilia to see what it was like then. I call it the “Life and Times” of the Golden Era of American Cutlery history (the late 1800’s to early 1900’s).

Well, the other day, I was doing my research on Miller Brothers. If you read the the Miller Brothers article here in The News you know this is a very interesting firm with a fair amount of info available for us. I have been working on accumulating anything Miller Brothers (except non-toenail knives) and even have an ad running in Knife World looking for MB stuff.

Well, on this day I was searching deep into the bowels of my hard drive when I ran across an eBay sale from Nov. 2004 of a Miller Bros. billhead (letterhead/invoice). The billhead was dated April 30th, 1897. Here is the actual photo the seller used for the auction.

I actually had saved this auction’s page on my computer at the time the auction ended. As I was preparing to open the HTML file I thought to myself- “gosh, I wish I had this billhead. I need to contact the guy who bought it and see if he would be willing to sell it to me, even if I had to offer his a handsome profit to get my grubby lit’le hands on it.”

I scanned down the eBay page to find the buyer’s name and much to my surprise….. it was me.

Sometimes we just have to laugh at ourselves, don’t we?

I happened to be in the middle of an email conversation (that lasted several days) with our honorary member, Mr. Mark Zalesky (editor of Knife World) so I mentioned this funny story to him. Evidently he thought it was funny too. I understand he used it in his editorial for this next edition. (He said the names were changed to protect the innocent, we’ll see.)

How do you have your collection inventoried?

You may say, “Inventoried, I don’t have so many I can’t keep up with what I have.” Well, let me tell you two things- First, it will get to the point you simply can’t keep up with all the details about each knife, when you bought it, from whom, the value and price you paid, etc. and second, you need a written record for your insurance and for your loved ones to use when they want to cash them out

There has been a knife inventory software around for several years. I resisted it. Thinking I would just use The List on ET.com as my inventory. Well, I have found a fantastic application/program that is very easily customized.

I spent about 20 minutes and came up with this as a template for mine. It will take several months for me to load it (because I must take new photos and then will need to reload most of them in The List to replace the dark ones up now).

Here it is. I know the categories may be hard to read but I made them and then can add a text field, a currency field, drop down menus, as many pics holders as I want and as many pages as I want. This one is two pages (left side and right side). I can customize the look of it by choosing different color backgrounds, etc.

What is really cool is there are two views of this information. If you notice in the top left are the words “Table and Form.” The view with the green background is the Form view.

The spreadsheet format is the Table view. You can see on the right side are the fields I select to customize the spreadsheet view. The numbers and currency columns will total at the bottom (like Excel or Numbers). I haven’t added mine yet and made this as a sample.

You enter in the info one time and then can see it in the Table View (spreadsheet format) and the Form View.

This is a Filemaker Product offering Database Software. This one I have is called Bento. It is a Mac product, but FileMaker offers products for Windows and Macs.  I wanted Bento when I first saw it in a Mac Magazine a month ago, BUT, it only runs on Mac’s newest OS system (Leopard 10.5) Yesterday I installed the new OS system. I was very anxious about installing the new OS system because you know the old saying- “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” well, mine wasn’t broke and I ran the risk of breaking it.

There were some real horror stories out there about the extreme problems encountered when installing Leopard. I am very happy to report it went off without a hitch so I am up and running full steam. I loaded Bento right away and started playing with it. Now the big task, converting over to it 100%.

I did a search for Knife Collection Software and there are other options, including a discussion at one of the knife forums talking about using Word and Excel. I have had mine in Excel for years but like the look of Bento much better and it serves the same function with the Table View, plus I get the Form View.

In the recent series of What determines Price in Part II we looked at how the price paid for a particular knife doesn’t always reflect the market value of that knife due to either an over-motivated buyer or seller.

Now in this final installment I want to examine these sales approaches (alternatives) from a price perspective. I know there are other factors and we examined those in What is the best approach to sale for you individually based on your personal criteria. Then in Part two- Sales Alternatives we looked at the pros and cons of the different sales approaches.

The question before us now is- “Are there times the method used actually affects the price (the outcome)?” I’m talking something like a glitch or problem with the system itself that would affect the results.

(more…)

ITS BACK>>>>

Back in Nov. this Camillus was on the block, well its back.

My guess is it has been rehandled. Older toenails don’t have super thick stag and this appears to be newer stag.

It is the same seller too.

I’m starting a new category topic called “I’ve Got a Beef.” It is for me to sound off. So when you see ole Johnny Mac here you know I’m sounding off. (I was a Borg fan actually, but grew to like John McEnroe a lot over the years). If you don’t know John was famous for his on the court tirades.

Unfortunately, my first installment in “I’ve got a Beef” is pretty close to home for us all of us, but I’m sorry….cause I’ve got a beef.

HOW ABOUT A GLO IN THE DARK WEBSITE?

You guys know I am not one to complain BUT my gracious- have you seen the new National Knife Collector Association website? I know I am not web guru myself, but come on….. green and purple GLO colors.

Maybe it is just my browser or something….like my eyes. It looks like Day-Glo fluorescent with an optical illusion as its focal point!? How about instead, maybe…..a knife, or how about people- yes, smiling collectors at a show…… but a never-ending Day-Glo circle? Must be some of that new age stuff at work here, or something…

I know the NKCA is more than for collectors of antique knives- but there is ton of imagery that could have been used on the site. (I realize pics can be slow to load, but..) I also know the NKCA is a non-profit and probably not flush with cash, BUT…… can’t we make our organization’s site look appealing for folks who come to check out this wonderful hobby of ours? Hopefully, the landing page/homepage is just under construction.

This is Part II of our topic of “What is the best approach to use to sell your collection?” In Part I we looked at questions to ask yourself. These questions are pointers to help determine which approach best fits your needs, now I want to look at the pros and cons of the different approaches.

In general, a knife is only worth what someone is willing to pay. We must ask ourselves what factors/set of circumstances can I create to create the ultimate buying environment so that when that “offer” comes in it is the maximum offer I could/can expect.

As both an auctioneer and a knife collector, I have been asked on numerous occasions which is more advantageous to sell through, the auction method, or the one-on-one negotiated sales approach. This question typically then leads to online auction, such as eBay compared to the traditional live auction format.

To look into the answers involved here we examine several aspects; first, we must examine each method’s pros and cons. (more…)

So you have heard of the toenail being nicknamed a Rope Knife, right? Usually associated with that moniker is a description of it being an English rope knife, but if you have been around ET.com for very long you know I believe it was used as a marketing ploy. But did you know there really is an English toenail manufactured by a firm in Sheffield, England?

One of the aspects we find most interesting about our toes is a degree of mystery exists. Parts of a puzzle we just can’t figure out. We know H. Boker a German firm produced elephant toenails. Well I’d like to introduce my English toenail by Lockwood Brothers. (more…)

When it is time to sell your knives, what is the best approach? Should we take the knives to the next area show, put them on eBay, sell them to a dealer all at one time, or should we hire a traditional auctioneer to sell them for us?

You may be thinking, “Whoa, Scott, where the heck is this coming from? We are having fun collecting toenails here….we talk about buying, so why are you talking about selling?”

Guys one day we will sell. Heck, you never know, you might decide to start collecting butterflies or election buttons (just kidding) or simply want to reallocate your assets, if you will, or could be faced with a forced sale, or worse, an estate sale, you get my point- bottom-line, we need a plan, OK? I think about this frequently as it relates to my collection, my family and their livelihood, and what if something should happen to me. This article is not about a forced or estate sale, so cheer up, but not to think about it at all would be some form of denial, wouldn’t it?

Frequently I am asked about my auction experience and how the prices realized at auction compare to those obtained through the more traditional one-on-one approach, and more recently, how the online auctions compare, from a seller’s perspective. (more…)