Costume Jewelry maker
Napier marks
The business began as the E.A.
- Active
- 1878–1999
- Based in
- Meriden, Connecticut, United States
- Marks listed
- 13
- Typical pieces
- necklaces, bracelets, earrings, charm bracelets
The marks, by date
Each mark’s wording is written out as a transcription: the words and line breaks, not a picture of the mark. Where a source describes a mark instead of quoting it, the description is shown in italics.
Where: back of piece
RCJ: first used 9-5-1915; search-result text describes BLISS in an elongated shield.
Where: back of piece
Where: back of piece / on clasp
Block print; a similar block mark was used again decades later.
Where: back of piece
Where: back of piece
Where: back of piece
Where: on bracelet
Where: back of piece
Where: back of piece
Where: back of piece / on clasp
Where: back of piece
Where: back of piece
Where: incised in the top of a pin stem
History
Bliss Company at Attleborough Falls, Massachusetts, in September 1878, and moved to Meriden, Connecticut, in 1890. James Napier, a Bliss employee, became president, and the firm was renamed Napier-Bliss Co. in 1920 and The Napier Co. in 1922. It bought and refitted a Meriden factory in 1928 and later kept a sales office on Fifth Avenue in New York. The company closed on October 15, 1999, under Victoria & Co.
Dating clues
- Napier marks without a copyright symbol were made both before and after 1955, so a missing © does not prove an early date.
- The 1920s block-letter Napier mark was reused with only small differences decades later; judge the components and style as well.
- Early Napier earrings are screw-backs.
- A Napier © incised in the top of a pin stem dates from 1993 on.
Look-alikes and reproductions
- The later block-letter Napier mark closely resembles the 1920s block mark (Antique Trader).
Other names on the marks
E.A. Bliss Co.; Napier-Bliss Co.; The Napier Co.; NACO
Where sources disagree: Founding date: RCJ documents September 1878 and notes older accounts (Whitney & Rice, 1875); search-result text says Napier altered its claimed founding date in 1929. RCJ has the move to Meriden in 1890, while Antique Trader describes the 1928 purchase of a Meriden factory. Charm bracelets and silver as typical items rest on thinner support.
Sources
Marks help identify a maker and a date range, but they can’t prove a piece is genuine. Reproductions and later reissues can carry old marks. This entry isn’t an appraisal.