My name is Inmaculada Hurtado Suárez, and I am doing my doctoral thesis at the University of Málaga, Andalucía Spain. I am researching a jeweler who made bracelets and necklaces with safety pins, and I would like to know where she found this photograph of the necklace with safety pins. Thank you very much. Reply to this post please
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Safety pin necklace info by: Anonymous
Just googled and found some interesting background information courtesy Wikipedia:
American mechanic Walter Hunt is regarded as the inventor of the safety pin that bears resemblance to those used in the safety pin necklace here. The safety pin included a clasp that covered the point and kept it from opening, and a circular twist at the bend to act as a spring and hold it in place.
Needing to settle a $15 debt with a friend, Hunt one day decided to invent something new in order to pay off his friend. He used a piece of brass wire that was about 8 inches long and made a coil in the center of the wire so it would open up when released. The clasp at one end, was devised in order to shield the sharp edge from the user.
After being issued U.S. patent #6,281 on April 10, 1849, Hunt sold the patent to W. R. Grace and Company for $400 (roughly $10,000 in 2008 dollars). Using that money, Hunt then paid the $15 owed to a friend and kept the remaining amount of $385 for himself. What Hunt failed to realize is that in the years to follow, W.R. Grace and Company would make millions of dollars in profits from his invention.
