The News from ElephantToenails.com

I’m excited to share with you a special feature for us here at ET.com. Within the next couple of weeks, I’ll be bringing to you two very special guests.

As you know, I have a little (tongue in check) project I have going over at Cutlery News Journal. It is the Audio Interview Series with key players in the knife industry. Two of the guests I’ll be interviewing are directly relative to us here. These knifemakers are Tony Bose and Don Hanson III.

Both of these men are very respected makers and both have made toenails. Before you jump back by saying ”but these are custom knifemakers, Scott, we’re into vintage (OLD) toenails here at ET.com,” allow me to say, I know that. Hang with me on this.

T Bose Pearl Jumbo

Mr. Bose was the first knifemaker to actually make the Jumbo Swellcenter. He will provide us with keen insight into what it is like to make one of those puppies. He told me recently, the Jumbo is the hardest knife to make of all he has ever made…and we’ll get him to tell us why.

D Hanson Blue Mammoth Bark Ivory Scales

Don Hanson III, if you don’t know him, is known throughout the world as Mr. Sunfish. He established himself in the custom knifemaking Who’s Who by making toenails. And even adopted it as his trademark, except as you know he calls them sunfish. 

Since we can’t go back and interview anyone from the early days of the C. Platts, Case Brothers, or early W R Case companies, obviously, in order to get insight into what it was like to actually hand forge and finish a toenail, these men are the modern-day equivalent. I think it will be fascinating to talk with these men.

Here’s what I’m going to do- The CNJ Interview will be a 30 minute in-depth conversation and will be released there in its entirety, but for you and me here, I’m going to cut out the heart of the toenail discussion and post it here. Be patient as it takes time to work out all the scheduling and production, but will let you know as soon as I can.

You will be able with a click to hear these conversations right here without any special plug-ins or downloads. I hope you will listen in!

Couple of D W's favorites

MY NAME IS D.W.COVER FROM SOUTHEAST IOWA U.S.A. I SOLD ALL OF MY NEWER CASE AND FIGHTN ROOSTER TOE NAILS AND KEPT MY CATTARAUGUS AND HIBBARD SPENSER BARTLETT. I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING FOR 35 YEARS AND HAVE A LARGE COLLECTION OF CATTARAUGUS AND JACK KNIFE BEN, UNION STOCK YARD KNIVES. THE ONLY KNIVES I WANT ARE THE OLD ONES FROM 1940 ON BACK. I RETIRED FROM STANDARD OIL AFTER 47 YEARS AND GO TO ALOT OF ANTIQUE AUCTIONS. I HAVE ATTENDED THE IOWA KNIFE SHOWS AND THE ONE IN SPRINGFIELD MISSOURI. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS WMCOVER@MEPOTELCO.NET.

We are glad to have D W ’round here showing us his old toes and appreciate him sharing his profile with us too.

You guys know we have been following the progress of the making of a Jumbo Swellcenter by knifemaker Jeff Claiborne.

Jeff told me it is now finished. And I’m exciting to present the unveiling of Jeff’s excellent representation of this rare vintage pattern. 

This is a stag handled Jumbo Swellcenter. Custom made jumbos are very rare. From my conversations with two knifemakers, both of which have made jumbos, it is a very difficult knife to make, but I’ll post more on that in a later post.

With that allow me to present this handful of a beauty-

If you missed the earlier posts on the stages making this knife, here you go: Part I  and then Part II 

For some of us who don’t get to travel to many shows either due to work, demands at home, $, lack of shows in the area, or just because we are too lazy to get off our duff, it is hard to stay connected with fellow collectors. Well, I fall into this category too, for many of the reasons listed.

But, I love it when you guys share what is going on in your collector world. I find it most enjoyable when you take the time to share with me your “finds.” 

One collector in particular keeps the good times coming and he is Roger Cunningham. I know he is centrally located with lots of club shows to go to, but I also know this is a man on a mission- he is out there actively prospecting for toenails.

Well, about every other week, or so it seems, Roger fires me another set of pictures with his latest finds. Yesterday, I get two more. My gracious, and the thing  about Roger is he isn’t just out there buying any old toenail with two blades and two sides of a handle. Roger is fairly particular about the toes he adds to his collection.

Here are the two he sent earlier this week.

So, I want to share with all of you (I know he won’t mind) so you can get refreshed, as I do each time I see an email from him with attachments. The one one the left is a Case Brothers with greenbone handles. On the right is a Camillus depicting the driving of the golden spike.

Vintage Case Brothers

Camillus with historic scene picture

These are two fine toes! Thanks Roger for sharing.

Cutlery News Journal has released a new exciting audio series with the key players of the knife industry. Today the first show was made live. It is an exclusive one-on-one candid unscripted interview with Mr. Perry Miller, the President of the National Knife Collectors Association.

Now that I have your attention- here’s the deal. When we lock in on a knife to buy…sometimes our emotions can override our common sense. We are under the influence at that point; we are intoxicated- We are buying under the influence.

Keep your wits

When you finally find one of those toenail brands or styles you seek, don’t get carried away with emotion. Keep your wits about you.

While we all have gotten swept up in the tide of “I got to get this knife,” when in that situation there may be good reasons for not buying it. It could be it is a counterfeit and your gut is telling you to run; it could be the seller is of questionable reputation and the knife is too good to be true; or it could simply be due to the knife’s condition when the seller won’t budge off of a price that is WAY too high.

Word to the wise

My point here is not to be suspicious of every knife or seller you meet, but, on the other hand, I had a wise man once tell me…”we have our gut feeling for a reason….so you had better listen to it.” Most knives and sellers are fine, but if your gut screams at you….LISTEN. If you don’t feel you have enough experience then get a reputable dealer’s opinion.

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Would you believe me if I told you you could buy a W R Case Jumbo Swellcenter for only $2.00? The one pictured here wasn’t it though.

Well, it is true. Here’s the story. Got a call this morning from a knife friend I met at the Case Collectors Appreciation Day back in July. He told me that he has a friend who bought a knife at a Flea Market who approached him about what it was worth. My knife friend immediately recognized it as a Jumbo.

The long and the short of it is this- his friend bought it for TWO DOLLARS! It sounds like it is probably in at least good+ to maybe VG condition. Aside from the fact that knife may be worth bumping on $1000 (I haven’t seen it, so could be more), the fact that there are rare toenails sitting in a box of knives at flea markets and trade days, just drives me crazy.

So come on guys, let’s not sit on our duff and wait on the next one showing up on eBay, let’s mobilize and scurry the country. I bet we can turn up a dozen or more in unexpected places.

As a side note: I rarely go to trade day down here in my area, BUT two weeks ago, I got up and went. I even went by myself and at the crack of dawn. I didn’t find any toenails, but did buy me two chains

While probably hundreds of older toenails change hands every month, we do our best to watch for sale prices for us here at ET.com.

We know eBay has them going on weekly, though not all are antique toes, so when we learn of other auctions, we want to know the results. We also do our best to track private sales of toenails as we can learn about them and do promise to keep the seller and buyer’s identities private, if requested.

You may have noticed Bruce Voyles had Auction #39 a little over 30 days ago. A few older toenails were included and I wanted to bring these results to you.

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