2 comments about Costume Jewelry: Identification And Price Guide.

1. One of the books I use for reference that is accurate and easy to understand. Selling estate jewelry and knowledge of jewelry pieces is a must!



2. Another beautiful book for collectors of costume jewelry by Leshner. The pictures are mouth watering and the topics digress from earlier books that are solely devoted to rhinestone jewelry. This book includes other types of jewelry like plastic jewelry, silver and beads. The vintages go through the 1960s with a good sampling of many styles. Leshner produces some of the very best books on collectible costume jewelry available that are a joy to look at as well as educational for the collector.

1 comments about Modern Chinese Scholars' Rocks: A Guide for Collectors.

1. Kemin Hu is truly one of the experts in this field with a real passion for sharing her knowledge and experience in appreciating scholar's rocks, both traditional and "modern".
   
   Her new book provides many practical insights into rock types in an easy to read style, with a light touch on the broader cultural context of scholar's rocks. For deeper insight into the history, philosophy and aesthetics, I recommend her other books.

5 comments about Racing and Collecting Slot Cars.

1. This is a great book. Has lots of tracks and great idea's. I really like it.



2. Great Book! The book gives super information about the slot car hobby. The information is very basic though, so keep that in mind. Great pictures throughout.



3. This is a "must have" book for anyone either getting into slot cars or returning to slot cars as an adult. Robert Schleicher has an obvious passion for "true to scale" slot cars and doesn't let that passion get in the way of writing clearly. The book is a great source of information for the home slot car enthusiast particularly for 1/32 scale and to a lesser degree HO. He is not into "hopping up" slot cars and even states that it is more fun to win a race between equally matched cars using luck and skill than to win having the faster car. He does however, cover how to customize and optimize as well as performance match "ready to race" slot cars. The pictures are spectacular while the layouts and cars are worthy of the pictures. The book has quite a few typographical errors but weather you want to collect slot cars, build a detailed layout, both or just assemble your slot car set on the floor and race, this is a great book.



4. "Racing and Collecting Slot Cars" is a book for every slot car racer and collector. It's primary focus is HO and 1/32 scale slot cars; however, the information provided applies to all scales. This book is well layed out. Each chapter exploring a specific aspect of these table top racers. The photos (many in color) are EXCELLENT. Best book around on the topic. No book is perfect, but Mr. Schleicher does a great job.



5. Racing Cars is a book that is a[n] o.k. book. The only thing is it wasn't long enough. The book was still a good book. It could be a little more interesting. But I think it was a good book.

No comments about CO2 Pistols & Rifles.

5 comments about Collecting Little Golden Books: A Collector's Identification and Price Guide (Collecting Little Golden Books).

1. This book is more than a catalog of photos of little golden books, it is packed with useful information. The information in this book has made it easier for me to determine a price for little golden books, and it has helped me know which little golden books to look for. I've already listed and sold some collectible little golden books at the prices given in this book, and I was surprised by how quickly they sold.



2. Now in a comprehensively updated fifth edition, and knowledgeably compiled by Steve Santi (a personal collector and professional dealer of Little Golden Books), Collecting Little Golden Books: A Collector's Identification & Price Guide features 3,750 black-and-white photographs, and offers 4,500 listings of author, date published, page count, and physical dimension information, as well as approximate current prices to help collectors identify and properly value a mass selection of treasured Little Golden children's books published in the past century. A no-nonsense, easy-to-use resource, Collecting Little Golden Books is very strongly recommended as an informational resource for collectors and dealers with its new sections on Golden Library of Knowledge, See Saw Books, Tintin, A True Life Adventure, Golden Stamp Books, Golden Story Books, Goldencraft Library Bound Books, and more.



3. Book has same prices as 4th edition updated three years ago. It also drops the guide to other children's books (Wonder, Tell-a-Tale, etc.). Hard to find any useful new information. Sad, since we were looking forward to a real update.



4. I really enjoyed reading the history of Little Golden Books and Western Publishing that begins this useful and fascinating guidebook.
   This book covers the numbering system of the Little Golden Books, the changing prices, how to determine editions (more complicated than you'd think), and how to determine value and condition of a book. I shows pictures of each of the Little Golden Book covers and lists them by book number, the new numbering system, Disney titles, and activity titles. The other members of the Golden Book family like Big Little Golden Books, First Little Golden Books, Little Little Golden Books, as well as promotional titles and foreign titles are included. This guidebook also contains Ding Dong School Books, Eager Reader series, Giant Little Golden Books, and Little Golden records. It includes Elf Books, Wonder Books, Treasure Books and Tell-A-Tale books, too. It tells how to date a book by the spine design and shows back cover designs through the years.
   Some people have found the indexing of this book to be awkward but I did not. I was easily able to find all of the books and information I was looking for. I collect Little Golden Books for my own private use and not for resale and I love this book because it has all the front covers pictured and tells the author and the illustrator. It rekindles the old memories of titles from my childhood that I then search out to share with my nieces and nephews. I especially love Eloise Wilkins' and Garth Williams'numerous Little Golden Book illustrations and this book helped me to discover so many that I wasn't aware of before. It comes with me to many, many garage sales and has been helpful in protecting me from highway robbery that some flea market sellers would have liked to commit! The information it contains about value and how to tell what edition a book is has brought many an inflated flea market price down to a reasonable level for me. I also use it to mark off the books and editions that I have in my collection and I make notes in the book about the quality of the copies I have, so I avoid duplication and I know when an upgrade is a good idea for a purchase. Steve Santi has done a super job of compiling the data on these national treasures and I recommend this book to one and all. This is splendid Americana and is filled with lots of happy memories. You'll like it.



5. This is a great book. The illustrated covers are enormously fun and are helpful in identifying editions. The indexing is awkward to use, however, as rather than page numbers it directs you to sections, so you basically have to read the index, then go back to the table of contents to find the right section. The extra challenge is that the books within the sections are not all arranged the same way; some are by number, some by title, etc. The author explains why he did it this way, and I was able to understand his rationale, but it is hard to figure out what's going on unless you read the text. It still seems to me a small price to see covers in chronological order wherever possible.

5 comments about Price It Yourself! The Definitive, Down-to-earth Guide to Appraising Antiques and Collectibles in your Home, at Auctions, Estate Sales, Shops, and Yard Sales.

1. I'm a beginner. This is a great learning book if you are interested in old stuff!



2. I have yet to use this book in any real-life, practical way. It is too big to bring to sales and takes too long to research stuff if you did bring it with you. By the time you found the item you were interested in, someone else would have snapped it up. My experience in buying has served me much better. This book has become another shelf-space-eating dust collector.



3. I am sorry, but who ever thought this book was in any way helpful in teaching people to "Price it Yourself" was oh so wrong. I was so excited about getting the book and when I opened it to find nothing but page after page of words with only a few drawings to back them up... I was, oh so sadly, disappointed. I guess it might work IF you were to come across the exact item(s) discribed throughout the book. It's like trying to read an encyclopidia, only not as informative. I tried to get through it, but put it down after five or so pages. It's off to the Goodwill, so if you want it, look for it there.



4. I bought this book thinking it would help me in my new venture of antique collecting. While the authors are very well-qualified in this subject I feel as though it wasn't written for the average person. This book WILL NOT help you when you go to your Saturday garage sale or flea market. The book spends way too much time on furniture and the second half of the book is all 'practice appraisals' which are for objects the average person will never buy or be able to afford. I felt like this book had a certain 'snob' appeal and if you can afford to buy a $5000 or $10,000 piece you probably have enough knowledge without having to consult a book. (I was stumped because the practice appraisals don't list a value for any of this stuff). Save your money and buy a book that directly relates to what you are collecting or hoping to find.



5. This book is an excellent purchase for any first time buyers
   of antiques. The work begins with a discussion of the factors
   to be considered in an appraisal i.e. material, origin,age,
   size, condition and purpose/utilization. The author teaches
   how to examine an antique by making mental notes and observing
   important details; such as, carvings, initials etc. He provides
   an example of the Gorham Company markings on objects. For
   instance, a bell shape stamp means that the item was made

   circa 1900. An item may have several valuations; namely,
   retail value, cash value, liquidation value, replacement value
   and the fair market value. The author provides major auction
   houses; such as, Garth's, Northeast Auctions, E-bay and
   Net-auctions.com. This book is a worthy purchase for any
   potential collector or hobby buff.

1 comments about The Collector's Encyclopedia of Majolica.

1. I am new to the wonderful world of Majolica. I was looking for some reference books to help me purchase quality pieces of Majolica on ebay without paying more than I should. I found The Collector's Encyclopedia of Majolica a good reference because of the approx. 180 pages of colorful pictures illustrating the various types of Majolica pottery available. This book includes a value guide for the pieces pictured in it with a few pages of general information. I gave it 3 stars because it is helpful in pricing certain items but does not give you alot of details about the history of the many companies that produced Majolica.

1 comments about Furniture of the Depression Era: Furniture and Accessories of the 1920S, 1930s and 1940s.

1. I picked up this book because I see so much of this furniture in antique shops and I wanted to be able to distinguish it from other periods. Although I've never been particularly interested in this period, I found this book to be quite interesting.

   The book explains the history of the furniture and its development, with lots of anecdotes along the way. Through the many color photographs, you will learn how to spot specific types of furniture and get a better idea of which company might have manufactured a specific piece.

   One of the topics addressed early in the book is the use of veneer. The authors explain that 'veneer' doesn't have to be a dirty word and that even the ancient Egyptians used a form of it. There is a section devoted to the repairing and replacing of veneer. They also provide detailed explanations for such terms as 'burl' and 'pollarding.' They explain the differences between better- and lesser-quality ('borax') furniture, and a pricelist (1999 values) is also included.

5 comments about Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers.

1. This book is an invaluable resource for any business or collector dealing in silver (coin, silverplate, or sterling). This was a gift I purchased for a collector's library and the third reprint I've purchased over the years. A must-have book for the silver research library.



2. I got this book through inter-library loan on the advice of an online silver seller and hobbyist? expert? We are restoring an 1800s farmhouse in New York state, and have found various bits of silver and pottery and other things. Everything is quite worn and dirty from being underground for decades. I did a number of online searches but it was this book which enabled me to identify, just in the course of one afternoon, two pieces of cutlery -- one old silver, one less old silverplate, and be fairly secure in the ID because this book tells a bit about some of the marks, such as their locale.
   
   No resource is infinite. This book shows many, many marks, and the text tells of the history and relationships among many of the manufacturers. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone else doing research. Don't forget your loupe or other strong magnifier!



3. This is a good book for American Hallmarks BUT, it is extremely out-of-date. Also, many entries do not have a picture of the mark, making identification difficult. There must be a better book out there somewhere!



4. This is a "must have" for anyone who collects, sells or loves sterling silver.



5. this is the book to have if you are an antique silver collector. Wonderful addition to my silver library

4 comments about Standard Catalog of Comic Books.

1. The Overstreet Comic Price Guide has been around so long that it's become ubiquitous in the industry. It's the default standard of most collectors. Now while Krause Publications does out their own yearly price guide, the Standard Catalog of Comics is a whole other animal. This massive, 1600 plus page tome lists more comic titles than any other guide at over 165,000 comics, far more than any other guide going, and includes hundreds of variant issues. The Standard Catalog of Comics is the blue collar guide to comics. It isn't filled with fluff articles about Superman or Archie, this is a guide designed for and by comic book collectors and enthusiasts.
   
   First, this book does a far better job of explaining comic grading and conditions than Overstreet, and features close-up photos of standard defects such as creasing, spine-roll, rusty staples, and stress creases. But what really sets The Standard Catalog apart from its competitor is it's pricing data. With Overstreet, we get dozens of pages of retailer reports offering their opinions and a handful of recorded sales that to me has always been fairly useless. Today, the internet, and particularly eBay has changed the way comics are bought and sold and pretty much replace retail shops and conventions as the preferred place to buy and sell back issues. What this book provides is real date culled from real sales, and a lot of it.
   
   What the editors have done is to track up to 25 recent auction closings for various combinations of CGC graded comics. For example, Daredevil #1 had at 25 reported closings in a condition of CGC 6.0 over the evaluation period. These books closed with a low of $455, a high of $911, and an average of $640. In another example, Marvel Team-Up #24 had 4 closing (and three is the minimum used for reporting) in a grade of CGC 9.8. The high was $147. Now this book in standard NM condition is only valued at $8 so you can see the wide disparity in slabbed comic books. This is real world data that is invaluable to collectors like myself who have moved to eBay to buy and sell comics. Where there is no auction data each book is given only a NM grade and then there is a chart to calculate the value of a book in lower grade. This information comes from the Comic Base, as well as convention and mail order sales. Purists may be bothered by that but really, what more does one need? The CGC data is what is going to appeal to most collectors anyway.
   
   Another thing setting the Standard Catalog apart is its circulation data. With records of capital City and Diamond orders along with the publisher's statement of ownership figures, circulation totals are provided for thousands of comics. Now you can know just how many copies of the supposed "rare" title were distributed. Again, this is invaluable information for collectors. Listed for issues are items such as notable character appearances, events, origins, first appearances, artist/writer credits, they even list the title of the story for hundreds of thousands of individual issues. In addition brief capsule essays are provided for nearly all mainstream comic titles.
   
   The book is clearly and concisely written. The information is provided in a well laid out format and is easy to follow and locate. Is it perfect? Well not quite. While there are over 2,000 comic photos that only averages to just over one per page and more photos would have been welcome. Still the wealth of valuable information in the book makes it absolutely indispensable for any comic book collector and should be in the possession of anyone who is series about comics.
   
   Reviewed by Tim Janson



2. This book is so much more than a price guide. Don't get me wrong, as a comic book price guide it's a good one, not only giving you the average comic store retail value of books, but that the average online auction value is in several CGC grades. It's fair and accurate on most books, though it doesn't give insanely high values to some of the `hot new' books. Also, it has individual listings for each comic book with check boxes by every issue so you can keep track of what you have and what you need.
   
   But this 5.5 pound monster isn't just about how much your comic is worth. For most series it gives a background and description of the series. It tells you who wrote and drew every single comic, and it even has how many issues were printed for most comics.
   
   Newcomers to comic books can enjoy this rich wealth of comic book information but I believe the long time comic book fanatic will best enjoy it. For the long time fan this book will not only help you keep track of your vast collection, but it will allow you an opportunity to discover new comic series. It will reacquaint you with lost comic book loves, and it will provide you hours of reading.
   
   This is a must have for every comic book fan new and seasoned, young and old. I can't recommend this enough!



3. This catalog provides a wealth of information for collectors of comic books. It can be overwhelming for a novice (me) to absorb, but what fun I will have while I learn. Definitely a worthwhile investment.



4. This thing is a monster. It has details on nearly every comic published, through to September 2001 or so. Besides the usual pricing information, if also includes circulation info (for some titles) and CGC info (how many copies have been CGC'd, and what the highest grade is). Many titles have a short series synopsis included, with information on storylines, creators, and anything else that might be interesting about a title.