I may well be the responsible party for the fake Patent date fiasco. There was a New Era at David Condon's years ago that had the patent date around the circle on the trigger plate as 24 Aug 1884. Enough other people picked up on it that I guess it was not the only one so engraved. After I moved out here to the Spokane area I found this New Era that has the correct 12 Aug 1884 patent date. Mia culpa!