3 comments about Fostoria Stemware: The Crystal for America (Fostoria Stemware).

1. Glasses can be both functional and decorative, so it should be no surprise that people have taken to collecting them. "Fostoria Stemware: The Crystal for America" is a complete and comprehensive value guide, masterfully compiled and in a new and revised second edition. Covering glass making and collection across over four hundred years of American history, "Fostoria Stemware" is a must for any collector of crystal glasses.



2. This is one of the best general books on Fostoria I have been able to locate thus far. Well organized and useful. Great pictures.



3. If you have stemware and need to identify it, this is the book for you. There's a goblet index in the back which refers to the main book by numbers. I have found it invaluable for quick reference. Having ounces and height given really helps to identify which pieces one has. Each pattern is given production dates, and if it was made in several colors, production dates are given for each color.

4 comments about California Pottery Scrapbook: Identification and Value Guide.

1. This book provides a nice overview of California pottery. Very good examples of the individual styles of the pottery makers of the 1930 - 1960. One major flaw - no Vernon wear is listed. I would also highly recommend the book, California Pottery second edition, by this same author, for an even more complete listing of CA pottery and the histories of the various pottery makers during their heyday.



2. I had high hopes for this book and was not dissapointed. Clear information, great pictures and love the catagorizing by the years! Am looking forward to more books by Jack Chipman



3. We were really looking forward to the release of this book, only to be sadly disappointed! Instead of categorizing the items pictured by the companies who produced them, they are set up by the production year, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, etc! There is an index in the back but it's rather confusing and who wants to spend time flipping back and forth! Definitely NOT a user friendly book. I suppose you have to take different areas of the country into consideration but I've found the prices are totally unrealistic. Makes me wonder if Mr. Chipman is wanting to sell his collection! On the plus side, the pictures are good.



4. "California Pottery Scrapbook" is a highly informative and well researched book. I loved seeing the names of Kay Finch and Gladding McBean who were well known in the Forties, and I was especially excited to see Beth Barton's works documented. Barton was one of the foremost artists in Southern California in the Forties. I own several treasured examples of her work, and I can say it is great fun to search for and find your favorite artist in the Scrapbook. The search is facilitated by the book's organizing the artist's works by decades from the 30's to the 60's and beyond. The photos and general quality of the book are first rate. It is a beautiful and valuable book, and anyone should be proud to have it on their coffee table.

5 comments about The Official Price Guide to Costume Jewelry, 3rd edition (Official Price Guide to Costume Jewelry).

1. Not for the beginner or if you are looking for to identify the less expensive pieces.



2. I have used many price guides and this is one which I do not recommend. It is helpful with designer names but that's about it!!! I have not found it to be very helpful with specific pieces of costume jewelry...



3. This seems to be an excellent overview of costume jewelry. The books content includes not only hundreds of Black & white example photos but manufacturing/designer marks and history as well estimates on pricing and advice on spotting fakes. This book is probably your best bet if you are only going to get one because of how much ground it covers.



4. An exceptional book on vintage costume jewelry. Expert advice on care techniques, dating jewelry and information on noted designers. Gorgeous examples of representative jewelry. I am both a collector and seller of vintage jewelry, Harrice's books are my bibles and accompany me wherever I go on jewelry haunts. I consider this book a must have for the beginner through the experienced collector to familiarize them with not only vintage cosutme jewelry but how to provide many years of enjoyment from your jewelry by taking expert care. I cannot rate Ms. Miller's book highly enough. This is my 3d book by Harrice Miller.



5. I found this book to have a lot of interesting information. It included more practical advice on the cleaning,repairing and care of jewelry than most books do. The problem I had with this book is that most of the pictures were black and white. On costume jewelry examples, it loses so much when it doesn't show their color! The beautiful color ranges are the main reason I collect costume jewelry. The small colored picture section was nice. I just would have liked to see all of the pictures look this way. I also didn't like when several examples were shown as a group with a price range that served for all of them. Which price went with which pin?

1 comments about Goldmine Country & Western Record Price Guide.

1. Goldmine COUNTRY & WESTERN Record Price Guide (2nd Edition)

   I was hoping that this long awaited new book would fill up some of the gaps in previous similar works, or at least that it could be a new interesting tool for better investigating the "big sea" of country music recordings. I've always bought Price Guides primarily for their amount of information on old recordings, useful for oldies fans and collectors too. Well, although I knew by experience that compiling a thorough conprehensive records guide avoiding at the same time any mistake is a very difficult(if not impossible) task, I could have never imagined that I would find such an inaccurate work, at least for what concerns the LPs part. As Mr. Neely says in his introduction, 75% of this new edition is dedicated to 45s(and this is good), but why should he neglect so badly the LPs section? It took me less than 30 minutes to find out, for instance, that Dave Dudley's listed LPs are only the Mercury cuts, and that there's no mention at all of the United Artists recordings.,Sun,? , furthermore: Johnny Dollar has only a Date LP listed; what about the others on Chart ?, Johnny Bond's Lamb and Lion LP is not included, Don Bowman's LPs list does not include "Support Your Local Prison", "Wispering Country", "The All New D.B."(?), Owen Bradley is entitled to a long list while Harold Bradley is totally ignored (!?), Jethro Burns, Jenks "Tex" Carman, Thumb Carllile, Fred Carter Jr.,etc. have no LPs on the list while other significant singers (dozens) have an LP dicography clearly uncomplete, ?.The famous "Red and Ernie" duet LP by Red Foley and Ernest Tubb is impossible to find under both Foley or Tubb. And this are only a few example.

   I really can't understand why Mr.Neely came up with such a poor work. Yet he was responsible for previous good ones such as the Goldmine STANDARD CATALOG OF AMERICAN RECORDS, etc. One could guess he didn't pay much attention on how F.Heggeness had conceived his previous(and controversial) COUNTRY & WESTERN PRICE GUIDE from which this second one has originated. Mr. Heggeness started in late 80s publishing a CD/Record Price Guide titled RAREST OF THE RARE which listed only recordings of a certain value. In 1990 he published the RAREST OF THE RARE version for Country & Western fans/collectors. There, only the most rare and valuable recordings were listed. Later on, in 1996, he published a new big volume: GOLDMINE COUNTRY WESTERN RECORD & CD PRICE GUIDE which was nothing more than an expanded version of his previous work and included many more recordings(78,45,LP,promos,...). Even though he was still focusing on the most valuable releases, he didn't forget to mention all others by listing (only under the artist's name) at least the labels on which they were issued, with their approximate prices. So has maybe Neely ,in his most recent book, considered only the full LP listing data from the previous Heggenes guide and forgotten the rest ??? It seems absurd anyway. But then, if it works for Dudley 's discography, certainly it doesn't (for example) for Pete Drake's whose LPs full list appeared on the Heggeness guide, while Neely had completly ignored them.

   However, though disappointing , yet this new price guide is something any collector should add to his library for the updated information it contains as well as useful extra cross reference tool. For the newcomers it could just be the first step into records collecting research, but only as long as they are fully aware that this work is widely incomplete.

5 comments about Painted Porcelain Jewelry and Buttons: Identification & Value Guide.

1. Wow, what an informative, helpful book if you have any interest in vintage jewelry or hand-painted porcelain. Wish I had some of the pieces featured here....



2. I read the reviews on this book prior to purchasing it. I also noted the reference to another book: LIVING WITH LIMOGES and I purchased it. Of course I compared the two. LIVING WITH LIMOGES is FANTASTIC and has an entire section on WEARING YOUR LIMOGES that is informative, professional and has fabulous photographs of thousands of hand painted pieces. The quality of Living With Limoges is much better than this book Painted Porcelain. I personally don't like paperback books and Painted Porcelain is a paperback. I thought I would enjoy both but my recommendation - don't bother spending the money on paperback reference books -- put your money toward the better book.



3. I love this book!! I also love Debby DuBay's book: LIVING WITH LIMOGES! Both authors "brooch" the subject of hand painted jewelry, buttons, brooches, hat pins, etc.!! A must for the collector.



4. The author has a wealth of information! (Too bad the publishing company made this a poor quality product, and a soft cover book. No justice to the content!)I love hand painted buttons and brooches and received this book and LIVING WITH LIMOGES which has a section on such, over the holidays. The two books have provided me with much information.



5. Dorothy Kamm's Painted Porcelain Jewelry And Buttons pairs gorgeous large color photos with a value guide to painted buttons and jewelry. The primarily-floral designs are gorgeous and are accompanied by the latest values.

No comments about The Sander's Price Guide to Sports Autographs: The World's Leading Autograph Pricing Authority (Sanders Price Guide to Sports Autographs).

No comments about Corkscrews: 1000 Patented Ways to Open a Bottle.

No comments about Real Musgrave's Whimsical World of Pocket Dragons: A Collectors Handbook (Collector's Choice).

No comments about Miller's Antiques and Collectibles Fact Book: All You Need to Know - In Your Pocket.

5 comments about Collector's Encyclopedia of Electric Christmas Lighting: Identification & Values (Collector's Encyclopedia).

1. This book represents a major effort in the field of Christmas lighting collecting and research. Great pictures, perhaps a bit haphazard in the way they are laid out (no chronological order) but this will be many people's only way to see some very rare and unique items. A wonderful coffee table book!



2. It was really worth the wait. this book on Christmas lighting is more than I ever dreamed of. Wow, all those color photos. the information is great, gives the maker, country of origin, date made, and the most realistic values of any of the collector type books I've seen. Just can't get over all those items. The part in the back that gives the information for the companies is something I never expected to see. With this information I can date, value, and know more about my items than I ever thought possible. My hats off to the authors, A Christmas Book worth buying!



3. i own every book available on christmas, especially those to do with christmas lighting. this book has it all. not a lot of boring details but thousands of great color photos. one picture is worth a thousand words! i own mr johnson's and mr brenner's books. boring details and just the junk of the christmas lighting. this book treats the lighting with top billing and just not a filler as in the other books. highly recommend. happen to know that these two authors only sell their junk items on ebay. most collectors who know anything are also dealers!!!



4. I agree with George's review. A multitude of photos in this book, but no history of the items is shared with the Reader; just photos and arbitrary values in a very general (and I mean general) organization. I was hoping for more history of Christmas Lighting and decorations in this country. How America's tastes changed through the decades, how technology changed manufacturing lights and decorations over the years. Information that's missing from current collector book marketplace. Well, we still didn't get it.
   
   In my opinion it appears that these two "collector" authors collected to amass huge collections just so they could photograph them for this book. This can be proven because one of the authors is currently dumping their "photographed for this book" collection via online auctions. It's unfortunate they did not collect because they loved vintage Christmas items like so many of us, and wanted to share their knowledge and collections with other collectors.
   
   There are other books out there I'd recommend before this one. Namely George Johnson's books.



5. I was somewhat disappointed after receiving this book. Although there are a huge amount of pictures of various Christmas lighting sets, the organization was poor and there was precious little information about the history of electric Christmas lighting. According to the bios of the authors, they reportedly amassed a great deal of knowledge in their field of collecting, but precious little of that knowledge has been shared with the reader.