Wow! The new Brunialti books!

OMG! I just received the new books and they are wonderful! I had heard so much about the original ones, but had never seen them. If the new ones are anything like the old ones, I can see why they are so heralded! They have gazillions of photos and all have very detailed info. I haven't dug in completely yet, but of course, the first section I went to (after I flipped quickly oohing and aahing over the photos), was the patent section. Here's one thing that I have already learned ..so interesting!!!

Dating a piece by the "patent applied for" date rather than the "patent issued" date. I had thought that items were not produced until the patent was actually issued. In my mind, I figured that between the time the patent was applied for and when it was issued, the companies would not take the chance of someone copying the design, waiting until the patent was legally theirs before actually producing the piece. Brunialti points out that the reality was that the designs were probably produced and distributed right about the time that the patent was applied for. He writes that because the costume jewelry industry is a fashion industry, things moved very quickly. Designs were quickly outdated. So, more likely the pieces hit the streets as the patents were applied for and that by the time the patents were issued, they were outdated and the patent was something of a moot point.