2 comments about Winchester Rarities.

1. This book has some great images of Winchester collector items but the actual narrative is quite limited. The book also includes prices of the pictured items but I would suggest that you take them with a grain of salt. In fact, as many of the images are from the author's own collection it appears that he is simply attempting to raise the value of his collection by inflating the suggested prices.



2. This is a brand new, year 2000 library volume that would be a treat to any Winchester collector. The 208 page book contains more than 800 very large, full color, sharp photos of the rare and one-of-a-kind Winchester advertising items, hardly ever seen. Topics range from rare calendars, posters, banners, signs, case inserts, window displays, counter signs, booklets and various paper items, counter pads, The Winchester Junior Rifle Corps, Winchester Store Era, Cartridge Boards, Medals, Magazine Ads, and more. There is a nice introduction to the collectible and sufficient text for many of the items pictured. Many of the products can't be found in any other book. A really beautiful book that collectors will treasure.

2 comments about Louisiana's Plantation Homes: The Grace and Grandeur (South/South Coast).

1. Louisiana is blessed with some of the most beautiful plantation homes in the South. This book gives insightful text and vivid images. Pre Civil War Louisiana was full of these sugar cane plantations on the Mississippi. It's nothing short of amazing how many survived considering how neglected they were for a century. It's a tribute to the slave labor that built them, the white artisans that designed them and the cypress wood that was used to craft them. Highly Recommended.



2. This beautifully written and illustrated book renewed my interest in the history and beauty of the plantations on river road. I have lived in the New Orleans area my entire life and until I read this book I had no interest in visiting the homes. Now I do! This book invoked the history and mystery of these majestic homes. If you can't visit these homes in person, buy this book, and it will be as if you had.

2 comments about Grandma Always Said...: The Little Book of Farm Country Wisdom.

1. This book gave me a few things to giggle about. Talk about old school with the switching on the wrists. This granny would put you in your place.



2. In Grandma Always Said..., Pearl Hummerding has created a compendium of wise and common-sense advice, exactly the kind of commentary that rural grandma's were ably to dispense and drawn from their hard won farm wisdom. From "A Watched pot never boils. But an unwatched pot boils over." to "Cows don't care what you wear. They just care if your hands are warm.", Grandma Always Said... is a collection of home-spun insights that are as entertaining as they are inspiring. There should be a copy of Grandma Always Said... on the shelves of every village, town, and city library throughout the country!!

1 comments about Collector's Guide to Art Deco: Identification & Values (Collectors Guide to Art Deco Identification and Values).

1. This book was published in 1997, but values are updated for the year 2,000. Wonderful 224 page book contains more than 600 large, full color, sharp photos. Major topics range from bar ware, clocks, dresser accessories, to smoking, statutes, tableware and vases. It contains much text on the origins and development of Art Deco, and each section contains useful information. It also includes facts on reproductions, manufacturers and marks and a comprehensive bibliography. Art Deco collectors will enjoy and refer to this volume often.

1 comments about Country Wisdom: Timeless Values And Virtues From The American Heartland.

1. This was a good book written about a time when a handshake was all it took to close a deal--when there was a basic sense of honesty which permeated all people living in the country at that time. It made me wish people still had that code of ethics.

No comments about On the Road.

1 comments about Classic Coca-Cola Serving Trays.

1. I thought this would be a book I couldn't live without. Thankfully, I didn't pay a lot for it, but I NEVER refer to it. Yes, it's got nice big pix of the usual trays, but the vast majority of CC trays?...you won't find 'em here. Precious little content, unlike the other CC trays book out there, which blows this one out of the water.

   If you can pick this one up for a handful of dollars or less, buy it. But don't expect much for your money.

5 comments about Brimfield Rush: The Thrill of Collecting and the Hunt for the Big Score.

1. Anyone going to Brimfield looking to hunt for the big score is misguided. Brimfield is no longer what it used to be years ago. People who think it's cool going to get overpriced antiques to decorate their pottery barn homes are what has taken the life from this show. Parking there is now atrocious, the fields cost way too much for buyers now and the bargains are few and far between. The dealers are way to slick. Knocking $5 off does not make something that is overpriced a bargain.
   
   Still there are loads of pseudo antiquers who love to think it's posh to attend, buy overpriced antiques, and then drive all the way back to LI or where ever they come from. Real antiques are got the old fashioned way... they are found at garage sales, on house calls, or many of the lesser, less hip shows up and down the north east.
   
   Gone are the days of filling up the car to the max with goods that let one keep the best of the lot, and sell off the rest for profit.
   
   The hip have killed this once great venue and turned it into McAntiques. They think they are cool. They are anything but.



2. BRIMFIELD RUSH; THE THRILL OF COLLECTING AND THE HUNT FOR THE BIG SCORE is a lively survey of a massive outdoor antiques and collectibles show spanning over 20 fields along a one-mile stretch in Massachusetts. It attracts thousands of dealers and collectors yearly - but BRIMFIELD RUSH follows not only the event's history but the experiences of a couple's year at Brimfield markets. The morning's opening 'rush' serves as a fascinating survey of Brimfield's treasures and attractions throughout a spicy, dramatic account collectors will relish and recognize.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. If you don't live in New England or make a practice of frequenting flea markets, you might not be familiar with the name "Brimfield." It's not just a small town in south central Massachusetts; it's become an all-encompassing term (in both noun and verb forms) for the event that overtakes that region three weeks of the year. Author Bob Wyss has provided us with a look at Brimfield's history as well as the work that goes on behind the scenes. It's a view we casual visitors don't usually get or could even guess at. The emphasis here is on the dealers and the residents, and not the average walk-in buyer.
   
   Chapters are arranged in sections chronologically by the flea market weeks: May, July, September, and the following May. Though the book begins with a couple in search of a human skeleton -- which they eventually discover and gleefully buy -- the focus throughout the text rests on two burgeoning art dealers, Rachel and Joe. Linked in a new professional and personal relationship, they face a number of challenges as they attend Brimfield to buy and sell items for their Pennsylvania art business. Joe is the risk-taker and Rachel the financial manager, and together they struggle to become successful at a work that is fraught with a variety of dilemmas. Should they merely collect, or buy and sell? How much should they reveal to an unsuspecting seller, since "a score has two sides, and for every winner there is a corresponding loser"? (p. 92) What's real and what is fake? And when will they become comfortable enough to stop moving from show to show and settle down in their own permanent gallery? They find most of their answers by the end of the book.
   
   Wyss includes interesting side stories to the lives of Rachel and Joe, with glimpses at other Brimfield dealers, field owners and town officials. He details the town dispute with its police force in 2003, which resulted in the firing of all but the chief and which certainly contributed to a major silver theft in the field that year. He looks at the thrill of "the big score" in the antiques world, citing several cases that include the discovery of a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence behind an old painting bought for four dollars in Adamstown, Penna., in 1989. The piece sold for $2.42 million at Sotheby's in 1991, and was later bought by Norman Lear for $8.14 million in 2000. That score set the dream devoutly to be wished by anyone ever attending or dealing at a flea market or auction. Wyss also discusses the effect that eBay and other online opportunities have had on live auctions and flea markets. And even a knowledgeable dealer can mistakenly drink his way through a case of Bordeaux before learning that the going rate for it is $1000 a bottle.
   
   I read this book in the middle of a Brimfield week, and it gave me a new perspective on the event. This time I saw more paintings than I'd ever noticed before. I caught saw PBS's Antiques Roadshow personality Gary Sohmers charging down a path, dressed just as described in the book. I understood that a "big score" could still be gotten by a visitor or dealer. And I realized that the "Brimfield Rush" is not just the frenzied way that customers enter the fields at the opening bell. It's that feeling that permeates your very own nervous system when you buy something you know is wonderful.



4. Bob Wyss has given us an exciting, insider's look, at the biggest flea market in the world. As someone who purchased his first antiques, 33 years ago at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet, this book has rekindled my interest in the antique trade. "Brimfield Rush" is extremely well researched and gives you the background you need to venture out there and make your first deal. The reader is taken for a roller coaster ride of highs and lows as Joe and Rachel navigate through the worlds of flea markets, art galleries, estate sales, and eBay. For anyone interested in the "Hunt for the Big Score," this book is a must read.



5. Absolutely wonderful look at the passion of collecting rush that's so much a part of going to the Brimfield Fleas. Wyss has an engaging style in this story of a couple in search of the great art treasures at Brimfield. The truth is is that it's a difficult trail to take, as Wyss recounts. However, that doesn't stop the tens of thousands of visitors to Brimfield thrice yearly. I've been attending and taking photographs there for over 20 years now and it's easy to see that Wyss captured the essence of this event - an even that attracts celebrities, famous people and collectors from all over the world.
   A great, short read that's worth the trip to the bookstore. You will not be disappointed. Also a great primer before attending your first flea market in the antique town of Brimfield, Massachusetts.

2 comments about Caring for Your Collections.

1. This book was assigned reading in the Museum Studies program I completed several years ago. I found it to be very readable and useful. It is geared to the person who is serious about preserving the treasures he or she has collected or inherited. Among its lessons is the fact that virtually everything we do to maintain our everyday household objects is not appropriate for objects that we would like to see survive for the long term. This book provides valuable guidance on what can be done to preserve the objects we value most. Today, I am a curator of a diverse museum collection, and still find this book helpful and a good refresher.



2. I'm purchasing my second copy of Caring for Your Collections. I am the curator of a house museum with a very diverse collection and I have found this to be a handy reference guide with easy to follow instructions for dealing with a wide variety of materials.

2 comments about The Shirley Temple Collector's Guide: An Unauthorized Reference And Price Guide (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. I am a Shirley Temple Doll Collector. I use this book for referencing dolls I want to buy or sells. Very informative, and a must have for anyone collecting Shirley Temple dolls.



2. This is an excellent book full of great color photos and descriptions of Shirley Temple collectibles. A must have for any Shirley collector!!