The News from ElephantToenails.com

If you are an eBay watcher then you have undoubtly noticed the decent quality toenails going off there lately. Late today, another knife friend passed on one to me that has just been added.

While Camillus doesn’t seem to rank up there with Platts, Case Brothers, Napanoch and W R Case & SON and the other grade A Brands, Camillus is still a fine brand and one that should move up a notch or two with them shutting down in 2006.

While I do I a number of them, I am not a Camillus expert, but from what I have read it seems the 4 line is the older model.

This one is worth checking out-

 

 

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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A few of you may know, the H. Boker brand is one of my sentimental favorites. I won’t delve into the details, other than to say, when I first started back into knife collecting I focused on old H. Boker knives and was well on my way to a decent collection until I got stopped dead in my tracks the first time I saw a toenail.

 

Boker has a very rich history going back to the 1700’s. The Boker (you will see it spelled several ways if you research their name) family was a very prominent manufacturer who branched out to the US very early.

 

Their 1928 catalog states they were “Established in New York City in 1837, H Boker & Co. Inc., for nearly a century has been known from coast to coast as manufacturer and importer of fine cutlery and hardware. During that period the name ‘Boker Tree Brand’ has become recognized as a standard of quality in cutlery.”  Unfortunately, in that 90+ pages of Boker cutlery the toenail is not pictured. 

 

 

 

JUMBO No. 9331- 1914 Greer and Laing of Wheeling W. Va catalog -

 

 

The Boker brand has all the interesting facets to me that Case does-rich history, family, entrepreneurial brothers, yet maybe without the degree of intrigue. 

 

Boker was started by Herman and Heinrich Boeker in the late 1700’s in Solingen, Germany. The Boker firm made tons of patterns and probably imported them all over the world. They were big importers to the US in the 1800’s.

 

Robert Boker went to Canada and later Mexico. Herman Boker came to the US and was responsible opening their office in New York. Obviously, the cutlery they imported was their own. 

 

In 1916,  Boker USA “officially” gained control over an American cutlery manufacturer Valley Forge Cutlery Co. of Newark, NJ. The Bokers direct venture into the US market was probably to avoid the tariffs (Cutlery Act of 1890) imposed by our government on all cutlery imported into the US. Their acquisition of Valley Forge also gave them an American brand name that had been around since 1892. Goins states Carl Bowker became president in 1902. Boker USA owned controlling interest at that point.  In 1921 they opened a new plant in Maplewood, NJ and the Boker/VF factory was moved to that location, where they produced knives under both brands until 1950 when the Valley Forge marking was dropped. The firm sold later only to be repurchased by the Heinr. Boker Company of Germany. In 1986 they opened Boker USA in Lakewood, Co. as their distributor firm for the US market.

 

I’m sure there are numerous examples of old H. Boker toenails out there today, I’ve been fortunate to locate a couple, in addition to Valley Forge made samples. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite is my H. Boker & Co’s Improved Cutlery pearl handled toenail dating back to around c. 1920.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Boker knives are highly desirable, I think the factors that have “held back” the Boker brand from being widely collected is: First, their complete records were destroyed in the bombings of their plant in WWII, therefore little “documented” support exists to help collectors. I do have two old catalogs dated 1914 and 1928, and have read about a 1906 catalog). The second reason is it isn’t American. 

 

 

 

To me one of the intriguing aspects of collecting H. Bokers was the Tree stamping on the really old samples. Their brand was the Tree Brand and according to Goins stamped the tree on their knives starting in 1848. It is interesting to see the evolution of the tree stamp through the years. Serious H Boker collectors use the trees to date the knives as well as the various stampings. On the majority of the knives, the tree stamp is on the rear tang of the blades. Goins also shows the various stamping, so if you are interested grab you a copy of his book to dive a little deeper. 

 

The tang stampings typically date the knife as well. One of the older more desirable stampings is what is referred to as the “Improved” stamp. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In light of the two recent eBay sales of Case XX USA Dotted Series rehandled toenails (a red bone & a pearl handled), I have taken it upon myself to prepare a “reference list” of toenails produced by WR Case after its Bradford Era. I have attempted to compile a complete list using my collection, information from Case and various resource books.  (more…)