The News from ElephantToenails.com

Many of you may remember our dear friend and toenail collector, Mr. Russ Atlamore. Russ passed away on Sept. 17th, 2005. He was singularly the most enthusiastic toenail collector I have known. He took the significant time and energy to write a book on sunfish/elephant toenails about the same time I was finishing ET.com. You may get lucky and find one listed on eBay. He only had a few dozen printed at that time.

Got a message from Russ’ friend and the estate executor yesterday giving me a heads up. He is selling Russ’ knife related books, knife boxes and other memorabilia. Save the seller under your favorites as there are sure to be some goodies listed. Russ had an extensive library of reference books. 

Russ' TESTED XX knife box

Right now he has two items up on eBay with more to come.

The items are: 120314038970 and 120310486023

Let’s support the memory of our fellow toenail collector by helping out with the sale of these items.

1911 W R Case Letterhead

Talking about historically significant- how would you like to have the chance to listen in on a one-on-one conversation with the president of the oldest remaining knife company… not to mention one of the oldest remaining knife companies to have made toenails!

Well, you can. Let’s face it- there aren’t many of the early knife companies left. Many of them went by the wayside after the Great Depression. Several survived and one of them is the W R Case firm.

While their roots go back to around 1890, we tend to think of them as coming into existence around 1902 with our favorite toenails stamped W R Case & Son (singular). Toenails with this stamped are reported to have only been made around the 1902 to 1903 timeframe- before Case merged with C. Platts to become W R Case & Sons (with the “S”).

W R Case & Son Rogers Bone

The Son toenails reek with OLD and rank right up top on my all time favorite list. You will not run across Son toenails out there very often, but if you do find one, grab it… in any condition.

Sorry, I got carried away here, but obviously, I have a thing for really old Case toenails and history.

Let me invite you to listen in on my interview with Tom Arrowsmith over at Cutlery News Journal