The online community of knife collectors

Grading old toenails

Don't know about you but the standard knife grading systems is lacking. You know the Mint, NM, VG, G, Fair and Poor "grade classifications" commonly used to label a knife relative to its condition.

I've blogged on this many times over at Cutlery News Journal and ElephantToenails.com about the difficulty associated with grading old knives, particularly old toenails.

In one sense what does it really matter? Right? Well, it does and here's an example that happened to me.

A dealer had a grand old Jumbo Swellcenter- it was a killer knife, seriously. The pictures told the story- full blades, perfect handles, clear stamps. Then the description confirmed the condition- "Minty" was how it was described. (Now we realize that VERY VERY few 100 yr. old knives are MINT, just cause these are hard-core working knives). Had it been described as MINT I'd been skeptical, but "minty" I accepted. (now this conversation we're having isn't about this dealer, OK? It is more about grading old toenails).

The reason this discussion is important is this- old toenails are typically expensive. We work hard for our money. This particular knife was priced at $6000.

While I was able to get it for a wee-bit less, it was still a bunch of money. Think it was $5800 we traded on (the point of this isn't me spending this amount of money for a toe, either, OK?). Understand this price was at the top-end of the toenail price range at that time....meaning I was paying TOP dollar (in my mind anyway).

I was super excited to have what would have been one of the best examples of a Platts Jumbo in my collection.

Now when I got the knife it was all I had hoped, except one "little" thing. Here's the knife- great looking isn't it!?

The rest of the story is this- the knife was in genuine authentic original condition and PERFECT- except one thing- the masterblade had no snap. Nope, none at all. Dead as a door nail.

So my question is this- what is the grade of this knife? You see it- perfect in every way, except no "Walk and Talk" on the masterblade.

Oh, and by the way- I sent it back. I wasn't going to pay the top-end of the Jumbo price range at the time for one with a dead masterblade.

Tags: Jumbo, Platts, conditions, grade

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard L Campbell (Dick) on March 26, 2011 at 11:42

That is a great looking knife. Was the tang of the blade worn? I would still call it excellent and would figure the value at about 60% 0f a mint knife. He should have mentioned the flaw in his description. Richard

Permalink Reply by Roger Russell on March 26, 2011 at 20:16

The no snap issue would have been a deal breaker for me as well. In my opinion, on a knife of this caliber & price, the seller should have mentioned the lack of snap when he saw you were serious about buying it.

As for the knife, it is definitely a looker and probably about as close to mint (looks wise) as one could have hoped for. BUT, for me personally, a knife can't be truly mint if the mechanical funtion is not there at all.

I agree with Dick and would rate it an overall EX.

Permalink Reply by Scott King on March 26, 2011 at 20:43

Thanks guys- yes, it was a looker and one I'd love to have had. Without beating up the dealer, I agree, the dealer should have mentioned it. When I called him about it he offered no apology and downplayed it.

Yes, Dick- the stamp was clear and was what you'd except on a knife looking this good. Knowing this dealer, however, he'd probably probably have priced it much higher if the snap was there, so even at 60% it would still have cost $4500. I'm fine calling it EX and would have given $2500 for it.

Permalink Reply by Andy Voelkle "AxeMan" on March 26, 2011 at 21:43

Good going, Scott. "Minty" should be reserved for knives so perfect that contact with human hands is assumed, but uncertain. That one was just plain old broken.

Permalink Reply by Barry Stephenson on March 28, 2011 at 6:35

In Levine's Guide to Knives , he states NKCA grading as excellent only if both blades have walk and talk. One lasy blade is graded good to very good and both blades lasy are graded fair. This of coarse depends on the other factors of the knife. I agree with Scott, minty is a little high on grading this beautiful knife, guess the slow blades just slipped his mind. You do have to wonder what happened to make the slow blades on a knife that was never used to any extent. The craft people at that time would never have let that knife out of the factory. Do you think the back spring was never heat treated?

Permalink Reply by Roger Cunningham on March 28, 2011 at 15:23

Scott,If I remember that knife didn`t it snap open alright and was dead closing?

Permalink Reply by Scott King on March 28, 2011 at 20:25

Don't remember Roger.

Roger Cunningham said:

Scott,If I remember that knife didn`t it snap open alright and was dead closing?

Permalink Reply by Chris Taylor (CTAYLORMAN) on May 14, 2011 at 21:21

Scott, I just picked up this exact knife "I think" today but one major problem, the small blade is broken. I am actually no collector of toenails but more of any old vintage knife no matter what it is. I am also far from an expert on any knife but felt this one was worth grabbing even with the broken blade. There are also three small pin cracks.

One crack is on the front side handle at the bottom front pin to the bolster and the other two are on the backside handle at both front pins to the bolster but given what this is I could not pass it up. Now comes the most important question of all.......What in your opinion is it worth in this condition? I have provided multiple pictures. Thanks in advance for any advise or info you can provide.

RSS

Welcome to
iKnife Collector

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

Badge

Loading…

Get Badge

The online community of knife collectors

Birthdays

Birthdays Today

What is iKnife Collector?

iKnife Collector is a community of like mined friends who like to talk about knives.

Throw in the mix... groups for guns and dogs and it makes a perfect setting for discussion of all the things you like.

If you are joining Welcome! There is a lot to see and do.

If you are a returning member, we'd love to hear from you. Post pictures, and join in discussions. Enjoy the new chat and most of all have a great experience here on iKnife Collector!