Welcome to The News from ElephantToenails.com.
The News is “Elephant Toenail Central.” It is the hub of real time information about collecting an old pocketknife called the Elephant Toenail (or Sunfish, as it is sometimes called).
The News is an interactive area for collectors where you will find various subjects all written from a collector’s point of view. We are a community of collectors- brand new collectors and old timers. We all have a passion for this old knife.
As background, if you are coming straight into The News and not from the homepage of ET.com, the Elephant Toenail is a pocketknife manufactured beginning in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. For the most part, this knife became obsolete with the modernization and specialization of hand tools and machinery. The knife was originally designed as a hard core work knife.We here at ET.com are collectors of this wonderful old knife pattern, particularly those made pre-1940. There were a handful of makers who still produced it into the 1960’s, but its function had ceased well before that point. Case knives made them up to the very early 1990’s but primarily as collectibles at that point.
So, with that said, my name is Scott King and I am the host of ElephantToenails.com. If you would like to know about how I got into knife collecting and the elephant toenail you can read more under the About Me as part of ET.com.
The members of ET.com are primarily from the US, though a handful are from throughout the world. There are numerous reasons this knife is highly collectible and valuable.On the main ET.com side, you will find a library of information on the knife and its history, in The Knife. In addition, you will find in The List a highly searchable database of the varieties we have identified to date. Also, you will find actual interviews with Old Timers and Recent Sales, a database of past sales. The Gallery is about buying vintage Toenails and includes The Catalog, which from time to time has a few for sale.ET.com provides in-depth information on the knife organized into a single location.
I had great difficulty when I first started collecting toenails finding any real info, other than basic references in various knife books. I wanted more and it was this drive that was the catalyst behind ET.com.Toenail collectors are a relatively small but growing segment of knife collectors.
The profile of toenail collectors range from those, like myself, who only collect toenails, to those who may have a few as part of a larger knife collection.
The members of ET.com are my inspiration to keep digging and posting. We love to learn and discover new nuggets about the old firms who first manufactured toenails, the individuals who ran those companies, and the folks who used them. I would have run out of steam a long time ago, but frequently get messages from new collectors who are now into toenails because of ET.com.
There are very few knife sites like ET.com. It is collector centered. Most knife sites are dealers or manufacturers who are promoting their wares. I have intentionally kept the site free from sponsors or e-commerce in order to keep this a collector site- built by a collector and used by collectors in their pursuit of a hobby we enjoy.
Thank for stopping by and hope you feel a little of the passion we share for this grand old knife.
Scott King
Host of The News and Elephanttoenails.com
Copyright 2008
“…..having as much fun as I did as a kid collecting rocks.”
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