A couple of patent questions?

1: I have a pair of earrings that say pat pend on the clip. They are not signed so I have no idea who made them. Not sure if the patent is for the earrings or the clip.

Is there a way to search for this to date these when there is no number on them.

2: I have 2 necklaces with patent numbers on the clasp. One is Napier and the other is I have no idea.

Does the patent number itself date the piece of jewelry?




The earrings, in case anyone recognizes the maker or date.

 

A patent number/date is the the time it was accepted at the patent office,there are pieces/things still using the original patent number on products for a hundred years.

 

Michelle, you can try putting the patent number here: https://patents.google.com/
and see if anything comes up for you.

The patent date is generally about the earliest the item could have been made.

 

Patent 'pending' means the inventor has applied for a patent (and as an admonishment to others who may want to steal the design). In your case, it would almost certainly be for the fastening device/clip.

Without a patent number, you're really out of luck, in terms of locating that device in a patent searching site.

 

Just tried out the best answer option. I tried to give you all the best answer because you all answered every question. It wont let me do that though. Guess I need to ask just one question per thread. LOL

 

All can be good; some can be better; only one can be best.

 

Very good questions, Michelle. We often come across this in costume jewellery.

I'm with sabre, the patent pending mark would just be for the clip itself, not for the earring. There is no patent number yet, so it will be difficult to find out who designed the clip and when.
As others said, an actual number will only give you the first date. Many jewellery manufacturers would use the same clip for years, bought in bulk from findings wholesalers.

It often doesn't work and most people have given up trying.
Besides, you never know if someone could come up with a better answer in a few weeks time, like the complete info on who first designed the clip, who ran away with the patent and made millions out of it, lawsuits, etc.

Many newbies are very generous with 'best answers' when they get the first few answers, only to find out later that those answers were totally off the mark. Not that any of these answers were, just a general observation.

 

Michelle asked 5 related but separate questions, so could find up to 5 replies to be best answers. However, the logic of the system treats each post as a single question, so only allows 'best' to be awarded to one.

 

Hi,
Just a crazy note on Patent dates. Patent dates are ONLY issued on TUESDAYS. So if an item has a patent date that does not show a Tuesday date it is fake. Most fakes like date I.E. Dec 25 and July 4th. Always check the date on a calendar. I have seen some beauties that fool the eye but with wrong dates they are duds.
greg

 

Beauties of what? Is this like a fake Louis Vuitton bag that looks so much like the real thing but label says Louis Vuiton? What sorts of things are copied & differentiated with a fake patent number? Guess my imagination is sluggish today.

 

Hi,
Most of the fake patent dates I have seen have been on belt buckles, iron toys, games and Mason jars. As well as ink stands, clocks etc.
greg