Knapik collects everything about elephants

This story was featured in the December, 2002 edition. of the Arizona Sentinel and is a product of a conversation between the article author, Todd Elwood and Michael Don Knapik; it can also be found at: Arizona Sentinel Michael Knapik Article

The elephant man lives in Fountain Hills.

In fact, Michael Knapik just might be the world’s leading authority on elephant-related things.

From ashtrays and inkwells to posters and pendants, if it is an elephant or features an elephant, Knapik likely has seen it or owns it.

At the very least, he can tell you its value.

Knapik takes his collecting seriously. So much so that he’s written a book: “Everything Elephants: A Collector’s Pictorial Encyclopedia.”

The book isn’t a small offshoot of a fun hobby, though. Like the animal he loves to collect, Knapik's plans are big and bold.

The book is the first step in Knapik’s larger plan that might benefit all types of collectors.

The idea began when Knapik began researching values for some of the elephants in his collection.

He began collecting elephants thanks to his mom. She bought him an elephant from France when he was a young boy.

“I started collection one or two a year,” he said. “As a teen, I had 50 or so.

As an adult, he and his wife would add to the collection on vacations. The elephant heard grew to the hundreds, and it only fueled Knapik’s interest.

“Around 1999, I saw god – ebay,” Knapik said.

Searching for elephants on the online auction site pulled up thousands.

At first, it was an easier way to increase his elephant collection. But then, Knapik realized that the site offered valuable information.

Right on the computer screen was elephant after elephant and the prices people were willing to pay for them. It was the market.

Thanks to ebay, Knapik could see what the market would bear for thousands of elephant items. The problem, though, was its disorganization.

Knapik is a savvy businessman. He is a software architect specializing in object-oriented analysis and design, artificial intelligence and e-commerce applications. He also wrote “Developing Intelligent Agents for Distributed Systems” for McGraw-Hill.

He put his computer and writing skills to work. He gathered and organized the information and wrote “Everything Elephants: A Collector’s Pictorial Encyclopedia.”

“Being a technical writer, I knew the art of good writing is making things easy to find, as well as easy to read,” he said.

Schiffer Publishing printed the book. It was the company’s first all-digital project.

The book contains more than 1,000 collectibles in 140 categories. It is the definitive elephant collectors’ guide.

But it’s only the beginning, Knapik said.

He’s working on the follow-up now. Eventually, he envisions creating a vast database elephant collectors can access for a fee.

He imagines an elephant collector at an auction accessing Knapik’s database through a handheld device. He sees the collector downloading information about an item up for sale – its history, its rarity and its worth.

According to Knapik, there are up to 1.5 million serious elephant collectors in the world. All he has to do is reach them.

“That’s the rub,” he said.

If it works, he’ll stampede onto other collectibles. Horses are likely next, he said.

“The infrastructure is in place,” he said. “And the technology is close.”

Meantime, Knapik continues to enjoy his ever-growing collection of pachyderms.

“I continue to be fascinated by the number of ways the elephant has been celebrated,” he said.

The book retails for $29.95 and is available on ebay, Barnes & Noble.com and other sellers.

Knapik is offering a 20 percent discount to those buying an autographed copy of the book directly through him. His e-mail address is everythingelephants@yahoo.com.