Epistle épée devotee Letter-opener enthusiast’s collection truly a cut above By: David Sanderson Posted: 8:18 PM CDT Friday, Jul. 3, 2026

Madame Daubreuil. On the 10th hole. With a letter opener.

In the 1923 Agatha Christie novel The Murder on the Links, town resident Paul Renauld turns up dead on a golf course in Merlinville-sur-Mer, France. Fictional detective Hercule Poirot, who is visiting the region, assigns himself to the case. After a number of false leads, the Belgian sleuth ultimately discovers that the victim’s son’s girlfriend fatally stabbed Renauld in the back with an ornate-looking letter opener so her lover would inherit his father’s fortune.

Steve Judge, a former Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service captain who actively collects vintage letter openers, isn’t overly surprised to hear his collectible-of-choice played a prominent role in a murder-mystery tome. (A letter opener also once served as the lethal weapon in the Inspector Morse TV series, as well as in a Season 10 episode of Midsomer Murders.)

“The blades on letter openers are generally quite dull, but if you go to thrift stores, you’ll find they’re usually kept with things like knives and other sharp objects, so I get the association,” says Judge, seated at his dining room table, which is blanketed with dozens of selections from his hoard, some of which are close to a century old.

“The interesting thing is, younger people behind the counter often don’t have a clue what they are. I’ll ask if they’ve put out any letter openers lately and they’ll shoot me a blank stare — or point me to the electronics section, thinking it’s something that runs on power.”

Judge, 61, can’t recall a period in his life when he wasn’t collecting one thing or another, be it comic books when he was attending John Pritchard School or magnifying glasses and staplers when he got a bit older. He laughingly credits his parents for his “collecting gene,” noting they were in the publishing business and kept thousands of books in the North Kildonan home he grew up in, in addition to a healthy dose of knick-knacks, china plates… and “stuff like that.”

The father of two, who retired in 2023 following a 30-year career with the fire department, already had an impressive assortment of pocket knives 12 years ago when he began noticing letter openers mixed in with them at second-hand stores he frequented. Familiar with the utilitarian tools, which average 15 to 20 centimetres in length and were created in the mid-19th century as a way to more easily access wax-sealed correspondences, he began scooping them up, as well.

“The first ones I got were mostly metal, often with some sort of corporate advertising on them,” he says, reaching for an opener marked “Mid-West Paper Sales Limited,” for an Alberta company that used to have offices spread across the Prairies, including one in Winnipeg.

“I would get them home and find myself trying to imagine how many hands they had passed through over the years, the sorts of letters they’d been used to open… That sense of the unknown really appealed to me, I guess.”

Also, with a high-stress career such as his, Judge found it relaxing to poke through shelves and drawers, hunting for new treasures to add to his ever-growing cache.

“Often after a 14-hour night shift, a wander around the thrift store would be a nice break to slow down and file away the happenings of the previous shift and get in a good head space for the coming ones,” he states.

As his collection expanded, he began to sort his finds into various categories. And because he also keeps wooden cutlery boxes, most of which he refinishes himself, he already had the perfect receptacles to selectively store his letter openers according to the material they were made of, be it brass, silver, stainless steel, wood or Lucite. Or by unique shape. Here he points out specimens with elaborate handles made to mimic golf clubs, revolvers, train cars and totem poles, not to mention umpteen furry, feathery and scaly creatures.

Oh, those, he chuckles, when a visitor inquires about a dozen eye-catching examples, each of which appears to depict a nattily-dressed gent sporting a top hat and double-breasted suit, and carrying a briefcase. Among the more sought-after types of letter openers are those directly associated with the Fuller Brush Company, the American manufacturer whose door-to-door sales force was so prevalent in the 1940s and ’50s that it was featured in a pair of Hollywood movies: 1948’s The Fuller Brush Man starring Red Skelton and 1950’s The Fuller Brush Girl, with Lucille Ball in the title role.

“These were a very popular giveaway, apparently,” he says, running his hand over ones coloured red, orange, purple, white and black. “Except after finding the first, I didn’t realize how many more shades they came in. I presume I have the full set, but there’s no way of knowing for sure.”

As for value, the most Judge has spent on a letter opener was $5. That’s a bargain when you consider the handle on one specimen boasts a mint-condition set of 1867-1967 commemorative Canadian coins encased in clear plastic. On their own, the coins would command as much as $200. (According to online sources, the highest price paid for a letter opener was $2,100, for a gold-and-silver vulture-themed model, made by defunct American manufacturer Dominick & Haff in the early part of the 20th century.)

Judge also cherishes the openers his son presented him with for his 60th birthday, though he did end up breaking the rule of never looking a gift horse in the mouth.

“He gave me three I didn’t already have and I was like ‘wow, where did you get these?’ He told me he’d been to one of my favourite haunts a few days earlier and how they had a whole bunch.”

In that case, why hadn’t his son bought ’em all, he openly wondered? Luckily, when Judge arrived there later that same day, an employee handed over a cloth Crown Royal bag containing two dozen openers, which he purchased without bothering to check whether he needed them all or not.

Additionally, he’s never too concerned if a letter opener has seen better days.

In those circumstances he’ll happily grind down a new tip if the existing one is damaged, or craft a new handle from scratch, if that’s what needs attention.

The Guinness World Record for the largest collection of letter openers is 5,000. With close to 1,000 currently in his possession, that number isn’t out of the question, he acknowledges. Having said that, a more immediate goal is to share his stockpile with others, either through a social-media account or in a more public setting.

“Not only do I enjoy collecting, I also enjoy viewing and learning about other collections. One day I would love to help organize some sort of event where you could take your collection to show it off. Not a swap meet that involves buying and selling, but more a bunch of people who collect different things, getting together to exhibit what they have.”

As for the age-old question — what does he plan to do with his letter openers further down the road? — he says, unfortunately, his two grown children aren’t very interested in “dad’s stuff.”

“My grandchild’s only three months old — perhaps there’s hope there — but no, I collect them for my own enjoyment, to study and admire for as long as I have them.

“At some point they may all get donated to an antique shop or some such thing, but — knock on wood — that’s still a long ways away.”

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