The News from ElephantToenails.com

Recently one of our active ETCC members got a lead on a CB 7250 Tortoise Shell handled toenail and did the right thing of running it down. Do you know how rare an authentic 7250 Case Brothers tortoise shell is?

Interestingly, however, it turned out to be the same fake Case Brothers (and same seller, Jay Nelson of Huntington, WV), I purchased a few years ago. The good news is we KNOW about this knife and who has it. The main purpose of this article is to put our other fellow members on notice before Toenail Blindness* clouds someone’s  judgment and it is added to their collection.

Here is it- at first glance it almost looks good but if you look further it is a fake.

I’ll cover what I didn’t like about it, but first take a look at the stamps- Look at how jumbled up the letters are.

Here is the pen blade stamp- check out the remains of the ‘C’ from what I believe to be Camillus. It is right above the C on Case. Also, see how close the letters are- too close among other things.

Now compare the length against authentic Case Brothers. The top one is the ‘51 pattern (4 1/2 inches) and the bottom one is the ‘50 pattern (right at 4 inches) Case Brothers. The fake is in the middle at 4 1/4 inches.

 I”ll post an article illustrating the various Case Brothers stamps (I know of three variations right off) soon.

The knife and backspring are ‘thinner’ than any Case Brothers (or WRC, for that matter), but are an exact match to Camillus in length, width and style. Also this knife lacks the TESTED XX stamp on the rear of the master blade. There were several other issues (real tortoise does not shrink, I am told but celluloid does, etc.), but you get the point. Therefore, I had concluded it is a Camillus frame (the blades were poorly stamped Case Brothers).

Our fellow ETCC member reached his own conclusion on this knife totally independent of me and arrived at the same conclusion- it was a fake and it was really a Camillus.

*Toenail Blindness is an delusionary illness where the collector wants to see a fake knife as the real thing.

Did you see the extremely minty Camillus toenail that went off on eBay the other day? It was one fine sample of a toenail and a treasure.  I’ll be posting the results to Recent Sales here at ET.com soon, but had to say something about this knife. While I confess I am not totally crazy about celluloid handles, I wanted this knife.

It sold for the opening bid of $699. While I thought it was a bit on the high side, it wasn’t far off what I would have paid. Rarely will you find an older toenail with the original finish on the blades. It is one killer toenail.

Congrats at due “one old gray mare” the buyer.

Check out the stamp on this knife 

If you missed it here is the seller’s description- 

Up for auction this vintage, circa 1919-1941, Camillus 4-line sunfish/elephant toenail knife is in near mint condition.  The knife measures a full 4 ¼” long and  1 1/16” wide.  Blade measures 2 7/8” long, blade is full and unsharpened, retains it’s original factory finish.  This knife has not been polished.  Spear tip blade features double pull.  There are a few spots of very light pitting, etching on blade ( LITTLE GIANT ) is clear as could be.  Both blades have a very clear and definite stamping.  The fourth line ( U.S.A. ) is rarely visible on knives such as these.  You can see the top of the “A” in U.S.A. in main blade.  Small blade is in similar condition. Both blades snap well, steel bolsters, brass liners, beautiful brown-green celluloid scale handles.  There is some shrinkage.  Very small scratches on handles, one small nick near back spring on brass liner which is hard to see.  This is the real deal. 

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.

Secured Party Orders Absolute & Total Liquidation!
ABSOLUTE AUCTION
70,000 Knives - Brand New Original Manufacturers Inventory - Camillus Cutlery.
54 Main Street, Camillus (Syracuse) NY 13031
with Simultaneous Online Bidding @ Bidspotter.com

Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ 11:00am
Live Internet Bidding Available for this Auction!

Click Here to leave Pre-Bids & To Register For Live Online Bidding

I pride myself on keeping up with knife auctions and must tell you these guys only allowed 6 days notification…..there was no ad in Knife World that I saw either. I just got this email of the auction today by virtue of the fact that I am an auctioneer through the National Auctioneers Association, not because I am a knife collector….go figure.

I’ll digest this more and let you know. I’m sure it will be a historic event- the final chapter of Camillus.

Reported to be a stag handled Camillus Cutlery Co. New York (both blades stamped).  (more…)

As reported in the December edition of Knife World, Camillus has gone out of business. I can imagine it is hard to compete against the foreign makers.

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