WHERE'S THIS GUY WHEN I WANT TO SCRATCH MY BACK?!

I think this is just a decorative deal, judging by the breaks against the quick. But, I saw an article in National Geographic about lacemakers and the women had their nails clipped or worn into points like that to separate the threads. If it is more of a fad, it might be called "The DNA Collector". ;-)))

Hang a couple of those spikes down into the quick and I'd BET this person couldn't clip 'em off fast enough!! HA HA