The Scout: Is Lushpad better -- and smarter -- than Ebay?

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For modern furniture collectors who find Ebay too competitive, Craigslist too random and 1stdibs too pricey, Lushpad is a well worth a bookmark.

Offering contemporary and vintage designs, the site’s fixed prices means no tedious bidding. Product documentation tends to be meticulous.

But, founder Melanie Carslon says, ‘some listers don’t know exactly what they have, which means good deals for those who can spot a designer piece.’

Striving to be educational, the site includes columns that help identify unmarked designs, well-written designer biographies and an informative guide to vintage designs, reproductions and knock-offs.

One why-didn’t-I-think-of-that idea Carlson happily shares: Authenticating designs using technical drawings -- such as the one for the Eames DCW chair shown here -- available from the U.S. Patent Office.

Read more about patent searching after the jump

-- David A. Keeps

Illustration credits: Courtesy of Melanie Carlson / Lushpad

On her Lushpad blog, Carlson writes:

Researching furniture patents on the web can be a great way to help you establish the authenticity of a piece or even identify it if you have nothing but a patent mark to go by. Furniture patents show everything from the overall design to the manufacturing process, to the joints and assembly. These details are very helpful in figuring out if you have the “Real Thing” or if you have a knock-off.

Patents can be searched by Inventor (designer) or Assignee (manufacturer) or directly by Patent number. It can be a little confusing to begin with, but with some digging you can find out a lot about your furniture.

Lushpad currently has links to the patents of nearly 20 iconic pieces, such as the early 1950s side chair by Ray Komai above, and Carlson says there are many, many more to be found at freepatentsonline.