No comments about Miller's Collectors Cars: Yearbook & Price Guide 2000 (Miller's Collectors Cars Yearbook and Price Guide).

No comments about Encyclopaedia of British Art Pottery.

No comments about Sandusky Tool Co. 1877 Catalog.

No comments about Make a Mint!: The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling Collectibles.

1 comments about TM's 3-Rail Illustrated Price Guide.

1. This is a fine summary of the three rail O-guage scale size model trains made up to the date of publication. It is a great resource, well researched. I have found the information to be highly reliable.

2 comments about The Great Book of Britains: 100 Years of Britains Toy Soldiers 1893-1993.

1. I received my first set of old Britains lead toy soldiers when I was five years old. Two sets, actually, the cavalry and infantry display sets of Union and Confederate troops of the American Civil War were under the Christmas tree and I played with them until they literally fell apart, except for one Union infantryman which I still have.

   I was hooked, and I scrimped and saved to get the ocassional set for myself when going down to the old Buffums' Department Store in downtown Long Beach, California through grade school and high school. Metal and plastic, swoppet knights and Guradsmen, Waterloo artillery and French Zouaves, they all found their way into my modest collection, to end up in boxes in my closet until one day in 1987 when I bought one of James Opies' superb books on Britains and the bug hit again. I broght out the old figures, put them on display and started to buy the old veterans on the secondary market, to where I now have over 2,000 of them and my modest collection is becoming somewhat definitive.

   This book, which chronicles the output of Britains for 100 years is indispensable to the collector and enthusiast. If you don't own it, you are missing out on a visual treat, seeing soldiers produced by Britains that you may not know even exist. As I restore and convert the old broken ones I find, it is also invaluable as a photographic record of Britains immense output over the years.

   The book was issued a Britains catalogue number, was issued in two 'versions', one with a set of four new figures, two Scots' Greys and two fusiliers, in a box, the other with a dustcover.

   The book IS expensive, but well worth the cost, and I have used it innumerable times to research a figure, read the text, or to just enjoy the pictures.

   I have over 4,000 total Britains now, old and new, metal and plastice, and the collection has grown in large part because of James Opie, and his books, especially this one.




2. This lavishly illustrated history of the world's greatest manfacturer of toy soldiers is a must for fans of William Britain's company. From the early hollow metal days through the years of great plastic models to the recent resurgence of metals, it's all in here.

5 comments about The Illustrated Guide to Antique Writing Instruments (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. This book is very enjoyable. If you can't own every pen, you can still have a great time looking at the craftmanship of things gone by.



2. This is by far the best book on the subject for the size. It has great pictures (all colored), concise information, and very informative price guides. It covers lots of different pens from major companies, such as Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, Wahl-Eversharp, Conklin. It also has some useful information on some obscured old US pen companies (all gone now). I don't understand why people are so excited about the big book "Fountain Pens of the World" by Lambrou. It does have more company information and time-line of products and covers more international companies, but that big book has no price guide at all, and is about 8 times more expensive than this little book. In terms of the coverage of the types of pens in major US companies, the big Lambrou book is quite much inferior to this little book. I just love this little one. But admittedly, you need to have more than one books to do some cross-reference.



3. A small and handy book. There are brief history of the pen companies and short description on pen collecting. The illustrations are nicely done, though the descriptions accompanying them sometimes too short. Good book for beginners. But for serious collcetors, better off with the big version by the same authors.



4. This is a valuable and handy pocket (briefcase, etc.) guide to take on a pen expedition. It's a bit big for anything but a large overcoat pocket but is handy when carried in a case. It is mostly a guide to the identification of some of the pens to be found at pen shows and elsewhere. There are brief histories of 18 fountain pen manufacturers but they are short to rudimentary. There is a short but to the point and valuable guide to how to grade a pen.

   The rest of the book is devoted to colored photos of various fountain pens. The pictures are very good and the selection of pens shown is very good. The values shown are, like all prices shown in such books, progressively out of date. They are good though to give a relative value for pens.

   This is an excellent book for its purpose - to help identify, grade and price used fountain pens. It does its specified purpose well. It's not meant to be an encyclopedia. Such a book would have to be a many volumn set.




5. An outstanding effort. The photographs are superb. Written in an easy language, makes it enjoyable to read to both novice and connoisseur collectors. However, the authors didn't mention some important pens (eg: Parker #14, Parker Duofold mandarin yellow, Parker Duofold Lapis Lazuli). ( My book is the Revised & Expanded 3rd edition, 2000).

No comments about The U.S. Rare Coin Handbook - Featuring State Quarters.

3 comments about Judith Miller : A Closer Look at Antiques.

1. For a quick and beautiful study session on antiques, this is the book. Gorgeous photos, clear and concise explanations! There is a 4-page easy chart showing the pertinent features of famous furniture styles that's excellent. She tackles every category such as ceramics, glass and silver with skill. I don't see how this book can be improved upon other than by really going into detail which would take extra books. I did see one error but I am not docking the Englishwoman for it. On page 30, there is a photo of a Pennsylvania Dutch chest which she lists as, "...often made in pine and poplar by German and Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania." I think she may be confused about the Pennsylvania Dutch people who definitely made the chest. Since I am of Pa. Dutch descent born and raised with grandparents who spoke the old, local Germanic dialect, I would like to clarify that the Pa. Dutch people are Germanic and the word Dutch is a bastardization of the Germanic work for German which is Deutsch. We are not at all Dutch, have no relation to Dutch and all the Pennsylvania Dutch groups such as the Amish, Mennonites, Dunkards and Lutherans plus Reformed have no Dutch connections. You only have to visit Switzerland and Germany to see the direct influence of those cultures on the furniture styles, art designs and foods of the Pennsylvania Dutch people. I did not perceive any direct similarity when I went to the Netherlands except for a general Northern European feel. Neither are there any large historical settlements of Dutch people in Pennsylvania, at least not anywhere near the Pa. Dutch region in Southeastern Pa.



2. Judith Miller has set the standard for antique education/appreciation, and this book is a seminal work. This is the best introductory book for the antique neophyte, and no area is given short shrift; my antique vocabulary has improved a hundred fold. I was an antique dilettante, languishing in ignorance, and Miller's book has introduced me to the incredible world of porcelain, silver, and glass antiquities; an area that I gave scant attention to in the past. For those making their first tentative steps into this field, I heartily recommend arming yourself with a copy of Judith Miller's fantastic book.



3. This book won't sit unused on the shelf of my bookcase as all the other antique books I have purchased in the past. This one will definitely be used - in the field and at my desk. Very informative, great illustrations and a lot of valuable information I will be able to use during my antique hunting travels. I would highly recommend this book to all antique collectors.

No comments about Arrowheads Early Man Projectile Points.