Sunday, September 20, 2009

1911 - Back Collar Pins

These two pins are described in a 1911 jewelry catalog as "Back Collar Pins". I haven't been able to learn yet how they were used, but I thought it was at least helpful to put a name to this type of pin shape. These two pins were also listed on the "dainty inexpensive jewellery" page of the catalog - as opposed to the many pages of 14k and other fine jewelry. They sold for 25 cents and 75 cents. The pages also mentions that "all stones are doublets".



Thursday, September 17, 2009

Pantone Color Trends in the News - helpful for vintage sales?

It occured to me as I looked at all the news reports of Pantone's release of their Spring 2010 Fashion Color trends report, that for those of us who sell vintage jewelry, knowing the color trends might be useful in planning a sales strategy. In any case it's fun to see what the color trends and designers are up to! You can find the Pantone report here: http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20694&ca=4

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Searching for International Trademarks - a tip!

Had an "a-ha!" moment today while searching for international trademarks. The World Intellectual Propery Organization (WIPO) has a cool website for searching international trademarks. You can find it here: http://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/search/madrid/search-struct.jsp

The A-ha part was realizing today that to narrow the search to show only trademarks where the product is classified as jewelry, use the "Nice Classification" of "14".

Secondary A-ha and a bit more technical, is, if you are familiar with using "design codes" on the US trademark site, these translate into the Vienna classification codes on the WIPO site. With US trademarks, they assign "design codes" to the graphic elements in a trademark. For instance, if the trademark is just a picture of a flower, then you can look in the design code manual and see that code "050525" is for flower shapes. On the WIPO site, use the first 4 digits, so the Vienna Classification for a flower shape is "0505". So, as an example to search for international trademarks for jewelry that show the shape of a flower, enter "14" in the "Nice classification" box and "0505" in the Vienna classification. This example brings up 225 trademarks that you can view, all having some kind of flower element in the design of the trademark and all having at least some products that are jewelry.

Happy trademark hunting!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Style Notes - 1935 - Different from the Barbaric Jewels of last year..

As seen in a department store ad from 1935, "bracelets are imperative this season". The ad shows big bangles described as coming from the Hindu or Renaissance influence.."directing attention to gold jewelry of the massive type, yet different from the barbaric jewels of last year". Okay, what I want to know is, what were the barbaric jewels from 1934? LOL!

click pic to enlarge

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

A Trifari "must have" to add to my list..

I found this in a Trifari ad from 1977. The "Peanut" neckace. I want one! LOL!

Actually, 1977 was the year that Jimmy Carter became President, so I'm guessing that's the reason for the peanut pendant, but definitely a unique item!


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Does knowing a patent number help sell on ebay?

You would think so. At least I'd think so! Today I did a quick search of items in the Vintage Jewelry category that had the word "patent" in the title and took a look at how helpful the information about the patent was in the seller's listing.

It was pretty discouraging. While the sellers of the 15 items that I found, believed that the fact that there was a patent number on their piece, was important enough to highlight it in the title of their auction, most of them went on to leave out any useful info in their listing. So, I think a real missed opportunity!

Some of the non/mis-information I found was:

  • saying there was a patent, and describing that the piece then dates to a certain time frame, or by a certain designer, but then not giving the patent number or showing it at all on the piece.
  • listing the incorrect patent number. Okay, I know they are hard to read, sometimes near impossible! But if you are selling a piece of jewelry and the patent number you list is for a dress, it isn't very helpful.
  • Using a utility patent number to "date" a piece. For example saying that a piece with an earring clip mechanism patent from 1945, dates the earrings themselves to 1945. Utility patents really can't be used that way, since often, things like earring mechanisms were used again and again over the years. About all you can establish is that your piece is no earlier than the date of the mechanism (utility) patent.

All in all, of the 15 listed, I'd say 3 or 4 had accurate info, mostly because they simply stated what they saw on the piece and didn't actually try and make fabulous and strange connections with the info. At best, a missed opportunity..at worst, providing misleading and possibly fraudulent info.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Liz Claiborne - Monet, Marvella and Trifari

The Liz Claiborne company currently owns the Monet, Marvella and Trifari brands. Here is a description from their 2008 annual report that describes the market segment for each of the three brands, which together are called the "Monet Family" of brands.

MARVELLA, a jewelry line sold primarily at Target Corporation Stores

MONET, a signature jewelry brand for women sold in department stores as well as in our own outlet stores and online

TRIFARI, a signature jewelry brand for women sold primarily in mid-tier department stores.


I recently saw Monet jewelry for sale in Macy's but have not seen Trifari anywhere lately. Although I have to say that I spend very little time in department stores, preferring antique malls digging for our beloved vintage jewelry. However, I think it is interesting to note the status of some of our favorite vintage brands!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Improvement in Paper Jewelry - 1876

Well I just thought this was a really cool patent! In patent number 177889, Mr Seidewitz came up with a way to make inexpensive paper jewelry for Centennial badges (this was 1876!), made to look like metal jewelry by using gilded paper with a stamped or embossed design glued to a small bent pin with a little disk. The jewelry was designed specifically for short term use for celebrations, conventions, etc. I like the idea! I'm guessing that not too many of these survived, if they were even produced. I did not find any other patents by Mr Seidewitz, so unknown if he was in the jewelry business at all. Here is the drawing that was included in the patent:
click pic to enlarge