Most pattern companies reuse pattern numbers every ten years or so, which is why the style of garment and the design (layout, lettering, etc.) of the packet are also important when estimating the date on an undated pattern.
Mail-order nameplates Marian Martin, Anne Adams, and American Weekly always used numbers that started with the same digit, so they repeated numbers every three years, give or take. This makes dating them harder because the difference between styles is less drastic--there was much less change between 1969 to 1972 than between 1947 and 1957.
Martin and Adams had the same parent company, and American Weekly magazine used the same company for at least part of its run. They use 9000 series, 4000 series, and 3000 series numbers, respectively. Anne Adams used 1000 and 2000 between 1930 and mid-1936 but then stuck to 4000 until the parent company apparently folded in the mid-1980s.
Anyway, as an example of repeated pattern numbers, here are all the Marian Martin 9256s I could find. I think there must have been one circa 1934 but I've yet to find it.
This also illustrates nicely how hard it can be to estimate dates when styles are only two or three years apart.
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