The News from ElephantToenails.com

One of our members of the Elephant Toenail Collector Club brought to my attention a Napanoch Toenail for sale on eBay right now.

Napanoch is a rare and sought after brand, and is another one of those very early toenail makers. 

According to Rhett Stedham’s book entitled, Napanoch, “A White Man’s Knife with a Red Man’s Name,” this knife company was incorporated in 1909, but had been making knives prior to that. He goes further to say, “In 1905 the knife company became first known as the Napanoch Knife Company.”

Winchester Repeating Arms Co. bought them in June of 1919. The original founders of this firm later (1921) founded Honk Falls Knife Co., another very rare brand. In fact, these men returned to the original Napanoch plant where they started Honk Falls (Winchester had moved Napanoch to New Haven, CT).

Goin’s states the founders of Napanoch were making knives as early as 1900.

In its early years Napanoch made knives on contract for several firms that sold toenails, including, Wilbert Cutlery Co., Hibbard, Spencer & Bartlett, Challenge Cutlery Co., Henry Sears, and, of course, W. R. Case & Son!

As a side note- we understand the years of W. R. Case & Son to be 1902- 1903, so we know Napanoch was making toenails then.

Napanoch is another major player in the early history of Elephant Toenails.

All you guys know I am on a never ending quest to trace toenails back to the earliest date I can.

There are only a handful of firms that could have made them prior to around 1900. One of those firms, and a highly potential candidate, is the underrated- Cattaraugus Cutlery Company, Little Valley, New York.

This firm was a major player in early American cutlery history. Their history was the foundation of Case Brothers, W R Case, C. Platts and many other firms later to come.

Trying to find a connection between any firm in the late 1800s and our favorite pattern has so far been fruitless. Sure we know there is the 1904 Case Brothers Catalog with a photo of two toenails in it. I have an old Case Brothers Manufacturing Co., Gowanda, NY box with 8250 legibly written on its end, aside from those two items, as far as I have anyway, there are few clues to go on.

Cattaraugus Invoice May 24, 1894

Last week, I grabbed a 05/24/1894 Cattaraugus Cutlery Co. billhead/invoice off of eBay hoping it would have the sacred pattern number “92″ on it (a bone toenail is 22929), however struck out again. I actually have several now from the late 1880s and 1890s, but none of them have our patten number being ordered.

So, I will keep searching…if you happen on any lead we can use to trace back toenails to pre-Case Brothers, please let me know. In fact, I’ll name the discovery after you (like when someone discovers a new star it is named after them)!

Who is today’s knife collector? Well, this much we do know- the average NKCA member doesn’t necessary represent all knife collectors in the Knife World. In fact, we know there are thousands of knife enthusiasts on YouTube alone.

The universe of collectors is much larger than we know. To me anyone who has a couple of knives and likes them is a collector. They may only get one, or two, a year, but they are every bit as much a collector as I am.

In an effort to profile today’s collector, we are running a Knife Community Survey over at CNJ and I would very much like to have you participate.

We are not trying to stereotype collectors; instead we are trying to find out who they are today.

Thanks for helping out. Please follow this link. I know many of you may have already voted as a result of my email, but if you haven’t, please do.

On another note: If you would like to be added to our email list simply click here. Thanks

Knives are as popular as ever. The web has dramatically increased their visibility and availability.

Pocket knives account for the majority of knives owned and used. Within this group, we find hundreds of different patterns. The Elephant Toenail is a pocket knife pattern. There are thousands of toenail enthusiasts who own one or more. Some folks only buy the old ones and others are equally satisfied with the newer ones.

We tend to think of toenail enthusiasts to be a small niche’ group, but it may surprise you to know, the group isn’t as small as we might think. And it is growing….

Tracking Knife Popularity

Trying to track interest in knives isn’t easy. If the knives are new, then we could look at the retail sales numbers. But what about old knives? Well, we could interview dealers, but that would be such a microcosm of info, plus we’d have to conduct the surveys in each region of the country to get its national appeal.

Knife Show traffic? Well, that would provide some info, but not interest in a specific pattern. Price trends would offer some info too, but not necessarily how popular the knives really are, plus popularity doesn’t automatically always translate into higher prices. 

With the advent of the Web, we have an additional resource to gauge their popularity.

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Yesterday we celebrated a birthday. It wasn’t mine, or my wife’s, but it was one of my children’s, but not of the flesh and blood variety.

Actually, it was The News’ Birthday! Yes, that’s right. The News at ElephantToenails.com was born on Jan. 1, 2008.

Over the year we added 156 articles within 27 searchable categories and 484 tags for reference.

If you have a moment, take a trip down memory lane, but first let me say that I’m concentrating on being clearer and as succinct now as possible, so please take that into consideration as we step back in time, OK?!

The Elusive Platts Easy-Open Single Blade Jumbo

Another of the last few original toenail makers closes its doors

Gotta Watch Out

Dating the W R Case Jumbo Swellcenter 

Who was the first to make a toenail?

Tidioute: A Town with an edge

Here are links to February’s postings -

Feb 08: Group 1

Feb 08: Group 2

Feb 08: Group 3

It has been a fun year. 

Thanks for all your support!