The News from ElephantToenails.com

So far in the poll we have running, the Tear Drop style is out pacing the “standard” style, which I find interesting.

The tear drop style has always intrigued me. So few were produced and to my knowledge, other than a Union Cut. Co our member Barry Stephenson owns (I plan on sharing that one with you soon), Hear Sears is the only firm to have made it (it could be a contract knife for them actually). Obviously, I am only counting old ones.

The tear drop style is actually a sleeveboard style with one end bigger than the other. It is right at 4 inches in length closed. The front bolster is 15/16 inches wide and the rear bolster is 1 1/16 wide.

I could speculate why the tear drop style was produced, but won’t other than to say, I don’t believe form followed any function. Instead, I believe it was made more as a novelty. One day I’ll post on Henry Sears but this post is about the style. I’ll be wrapping up the poll in a few days.

I was doing some research on Napanoch Knife Co. and ran back across this magnificent stag handled tear drop. If you know who owns this knife please let me know. This knife was published in Bruce Voyles’ Book, The IBCA Price Guide to Antique Knives Second Edition published in 1995. He had it at $700 in that edition. The photo above is from his 1st edition. This knife now would be worth probably around $1250 to $1500- my guess anyway. It is the only one I have seen in stag. I do know it was made in pearl, black composition, celluloid and now stag by Henry Sears…some were marked Prussia and then Germany.

We started the discussion of collectible condition with previous post on “What is the basis of value for an old knife?” While the overall theme was how Brand should have a greater weight than condition when determining the value of an antique knife, we saw one of the byproducts of an overemphasis on condition is knives being “made” to resemble original condition knives.

Today I’d like to discuss what I am going to call “What about knives with the three R’s (Reconditioned, Restored & Reworked) do they qualify as Collectible Condition?”

For us here at ET.com, we have voted on our definition of Collectible Condition and the results may surprise some of you. (more…)

The results are in and the ET.com staff  (all three of us- me, myself and I) is busy analyzing the numbers and studying the implications, but I wanted to give you the raw data tabulations from our second official poll. Again, I appreciate all you who were willing to stand up and make your voice heard on this all important issue (I just hope the guys who work on the knives don’t visit The News).The Question was “As a collector, when looking to purchase an old knife, would you buy…..?”

• 41.2% answered- ‘A knife that has been worked on provided replaced parts were original to the pattern and era”
• 35.3% answered- ‘I only buy 100% original condition knives.’
• 23.5% answered- ‘Any knife I like, regardless of if repaired or had parts replaced.’

I find this very interesting and will be offering my observations in my editorial post coming out on April 2 entitled “Collectible Condition Part II- What about Reconditioned, Restored & Reworked Toenails?” It is sure to stir things up a bit, but I am just going to offer my thoughts and observations on what these results mean for us here at ET.com. I have been waiting on the poll to close for me to draw my conclusions and finish the editorial, and I have. It has been cued up and is scheduled to come out at 7:01 CT Wed morning, April 2nd, so be sure to pick you up a copy of The News to go along with your first cup of coffee.

First off let me thank those of you who participated in our first ET.com poll. I put it up right after launching the new The News. I wanted to try out the new toy that allowed me to poll you guys- so here is a summary of the results.

The question was: How long have you collected Knives?

• 10% indicated they had only been collecting 1-3 years
• 10% indicated they collected from 4- 8 years
• 30% indicated they collected from 9- 15 years
• The largest percentage of voters (50%) indicated they have collected 16 years or more.

I find this very interesting- as you know for the most part, the folks who come ’round ET.com are a fairly specialized group of collectors. I would speculate (maybe another poll topic down the road on this) that most older collectors have specialized and have branched off into a higher caliber collectible (more valuable/more expensive) than the newer collectors who have yet to focus. I haven’t compared but have observed toenails do tend to cost more than an average old knife. (We know there are many reasons for this- sheer size for one!)

Most ‘older’ collectors have settled in and focused on a particular pattern (like toenails) or brand (like New York Knife Co, or Napanoch), or even a subset within a pattern (like stag handled toenails or simply jumbo swellcenters). When I was a new collector….I was spending just as much, if not more, but was buying anything and everything made by this one knife company. The result of a concentrated focus is a better allocation of financial resources- by being more selective and having a smaller universe of collectibles, many collectors can afford to “invest” a higher dollar amount in each knife, as opposed to what I had experienced.