No comments about Warman's Coca-Cola Field Guide: Values and Identification (Warman's Field Guides).

4 comments about Antique and Collectible Marbles.

1. This is an excellent referance book for early hand made German and American marbles. It is well illistrated and easy to follow. It is not meant for marbles manufactured after the late 1920's. A must have for marble collectors.



2. I was disappointed not only in the size of this price and identification guide for marbles, but also in the marbles that were covered. I was looking for a guide that would help me identify older, but more common marbles, not so many pages on sulphides with characters encased and rare marbles.



3. This book has beautiful pictures and is a nice introduction into marble collecting. However, it is not very helpful in identifying your marbles. There are pictures of different manufacture's marbles but enough information to teach you how to tell them apart yourself.



4. This book IS marble collecting made easy. It's easy to understand with very clear pictures and text. The pictures are fantastic. I had picked up some old marbles in an auction boxlot and this book really made it possible for me to identify the valuable ones. It has to be the LEAST dry and boring antique reference book I've ever found. I highly recommend it!

5 comments about Collector's Encyclopedia of Bauer Pottery - Identification & Values.

1. Mr. Chipman did a fantastic job at giving collectors an extensive history and overview of Bauer Pottery; its founders, key managers and workers and customer base. The book is an invaluable reference tool, especially for anyone who does not reside in an area where Bauer isn't "common". One must remember though, that this book was published before Martha Stewart featured the pottery in one of her magazine issues, thereby giving rise to the current popularity and scarcity of ringware. Therefore the prices, though out of date, were at one time quite accurate...new collectors can always dream of finding that rare piece priced by the standards of this text...Some of us were lucky enough to be collecting when the prices were even less than those listed here. Good luck!



2. Great photo shots of the various Bauer products. Highly useful to a novice collector interested in the history and examples of Bauer pottery. Enjoyable as a good read as well as a great guide for collecting.



3. This book is wonderful. I found everything I needed to know. Jack Chipman has done a great job - the text is clear and informative and the photos are especially good as they clearly show the important details . This will have a special spot in my book shelf....



4. I started collecting Bauer Ringwear by accident with a totally random visit to a wonderful shop on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles called Buddy's Art Pottery. Whenever I visited Hollywood, I knew that Buddy would help me choose that single, special, almost-affordable piece of Ringwear and spend lots of his time sharing his knowledge, as if I were a major purchaser. Buddy has, sadly, passed away and his shop is a thing of the past. Living in New York as I do, Bauer is not a common collectible. In fact, most antique dealers do not even know the name and try to steer me to their collection of Fiestaware.

   I am today a more informed buyer and that is mainly due to the writings of Jack Chipman. This Encyclopedia, specifically, has so many gorgeous photographs and such a thorough history of Bauer and its place in California pottery that I feel it is invaluable.

   It is obviously impossible for any writer/collector to price correctly since there are publishing deadlines that must be met and prices, as we all know, change on a daily basis from place to place. But Chipman's price guide is a great "jumping off place." As I cruise Ebay looking for a Bauer bargain, I often think of Buddy and I always consult Chipman. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED




5. We collectors all need to realize that price guides are just that, GUIDES! No one is ever totally happy with the values in books; either too high or too low, kinda just depends on if you are selling or buying. I feel that the prices are on the low side in Jack's book, but I would prefer that over him quoting the higher California area pricing; keep it real for the rest of us across the country. Even if you disregard the value guide aspect, this book is the most complete,informative book you can find if you like Bauer. The color photos are superb and the history is the best info I have found in print. Thank you Jack for putting up with the critics; just remember there are more fans that appreciate the work you have done for us.

5 comments about Standard Catalog of Lionel Train Sets: 1945-1969 (Standard Catalog of Lionel Train Sets 1945-1969).

1. This book is great, fantastic reading about all Lionel train sets and lots of great pictures. This book covers all Lionel O, O27 and Super O made between 1945 and 1969 sets. It also covers in sites to changes from year to year, and also what to look for to alert you to forgeries in many cases. P.S. NO HO



2. The Standard Catalog of Lionel Trains - Cataloged sets, by David Doyle is a very nice book on Lionel Trains. The photos of the Lionel sets are excellent. Do not miss this book if you love Lionel Trains. Richard Archer



3. Anyone interested in Lionel Toy Trains would find this book very interesting. Listings presented with many pictures and a excellent description. There are many pictures showing the original boxes the train sets were in and giving various dates on production. This book is not just numbers and prices. A very good source of information for the collector and train buff.



4. I found my old HO gauge train set in the attic and wanted to learn more about it. Reading the info about this book you would think it covered all Lionel train sets. The truth is there is info about all sizes except HO. If HO is your interest look elsewhere.



5. Excellent book, well written for even the most experienced Lionel Collector. I've put together a nice collection of books on Lionel Electric Trains over the years, and this nice work fits right and....and fills a void or two in the other works.
   
   You will enjoy looking through it, and find answers to your questions.

No comments about Elegant Glassware (Elegant Glassware of the Depression Era).

5 comments about Collector's Encyclopedia of Nippon Porcelain w/ Price Guide : Updated, Series 1 (of 5 Series Set).

1. This book is well documented, thorough and the pictures are excellent. In addition, this book discusses the Nippon history, provides an excellent chapter on marks and backstamps with a short commentary on the different mark colors and their meanings.
   
   I particularly liked the glossary, and cross-referenced price guide index which is placed in the back of the book yet neatly references to pages and plate #'s. Because of the extensive patterns in the Nippon history, every pattern is not in the book but I was able to identify particular shapes of pieces which I could check against marks/backstamps and the price guide to get a reasonable value range.
   
   Any collector or dealer will suit their library well by having this book for education and reference to Nippon.



2. Joan Van Patten's Nippon Porcelain focuses on Japanese porcelain, from painted vases and stamps to plates and smoking pieces. Gorgeous color photos abound.



3. As part of the 5 series volume, this series contains some updates. From my previous reviews of the collection series, I've mentioned that if you are beginner, a keen buyer/seller, or an experienced collector/trader of Nippon items, then you need to have this book, along with the other series. Like the previous series, this book contains information on Nippon porcelains. It provides actual photos, and price ranges for each items featured. Nippon porcelains have their disctinctive mark, based on the year and place they were manufactured, so this book gives you what to look and watch out for, in order to identify the authencity of the item.



4. Like the series 2 book, this is part of the 5 series volume. If you are beginner, a keen buyer/seller, or an experienced collector/trader of Nippon items, then you ought to get this book, along with the other series. The book contains a lot of information on Nippon porcelain collections. It provides nice photos, and price ranges on each items featured. It also gives you the marks to look and watch out for, in order to identify the authencity of the item.



5. I bought this book as part of the 5 series volume. If you are beginner, a keen buyer/seller, or an experienced collector/trader of Nippon items, then you ought to get this book, along with the other series. The book contains a lot of information on Nippon porcelain collections. It provides nice photos, and price ranges on each items featured. It also gives you the marks to look and watch out for, in order to identify the authencity of the item.

No comments about Classic Guitars: Identification and Price Guide (Classic Guitars: Identification & Price Guide).

3 comments about Collectors Encyclopedia of Roseville Pottery (Collector's Encyclopedia of Roseville Pottery).

1. This is a well organized reference to Bush-McCoy. It contains a history of Bush-McCoy; this added knowledge adds to the fun of collecting and allow you to sound more like you know what you are doing. Then there are pages on the different "marks" of the pottery. There is a dated value guide. But I find it easer to do my own comparing. The big plus is the color pictures that show what is available. For those discriminate people that do not just buy anything that says Bush-McCoy there is an index. It is also fun to see you Bush-McCoy pieces in the book.



2. The Huxfords are wonderful authors that have offered, collectors of Roseville Art Pottery, a basic foundation for identifying various Roseville lines. No one author [I personally author a mid-year price guide]has all the answers, but each of us attempt to add to the ongoing data base. The Huxford volumes are an essential tool for Roseville collectors and Dealers.



3. I purchased both the first and the second of the Roseville series by Sharon and Bob Huxford, hoping that I would get a complete guide of all Roseville pottery with prices. Unfortunately the "encyclopedia" was not complete. I guess this is how the authors sell books by not putting together a definitive book on Roseville.

5 comments about The Official eBay Guide to Buying, Selling, and Collecting Just About Anything.

1. While it is very outdated, it is still a good book for the novice who needs to get there feet wet.
   This book has all the basic tools you need to get you started in the Ebay experiance but offers nothing to help you once your passed the basics.
   There are some good tips on listing your items and using HTML code ect.
   So, if you are already an experianced Ebayer then this book is NOT for you, but if you are a beginer to Ebay then you'll find this book to be very benifical in getting you started.



2. I am very disappointed in this book. As most of the information in this book is outdated, this book should be selling on ebay as a collectors item. Much of the information that can be considered useful to the current ebay functionality is common sense. That is, the book did not reveal to me anything that a second or third time user of ebay could not have figure out.



3. This book was probably very good in its day, but eBay has changed so much since it was published that it really doesn't hit things straight on. It has the basics of buying and selling, and is loaded with cute anecdotes. I've had gotten better information with the updated Dummies books on the subject.



4. If you have never been to eBay then this book is for you. It will give you the basics of buying, selling, and searching on eBay. If you have any experience at all either buying or selling, then you probably already know the things in this book.

   I was pretty disappointed in how outdated the book had become in just a short year. Ebay is always changing something, so some of the references are no longer valid.




5. The Official ebay Guide gave me the basics to everything about ebaying. Answered many questions that I had from the past couple of years of ebaying & now wanting to get a whole lot more. This books raised many more questions that the book could answer. However it gave me the basics and left me in search of more detailed information. So, the book is just what it listed a Guide. Now I look for the Handbook to ebay.

4 comments about Price Guide to Cookbooks and Recipe Leaflets.

1. Happy to receive this book, lots of information, hope to sell a lot of cookbooks. TY



2. I do not like writing a negative review, but the only plus about this was I bought it used on Amazon for around $3.
   
   I will not harp that it is outdated, that is understood by the copyright date. But, it is only a list and an incomplete and sporatic one at that. Seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why books are in the list or left out of the list.
   
   There are only 2 1/2 pages of actual text from the author and it really is not that informative.
   
   There are several other books for collecting cookbooks that I just bought, and they seem to be better by 10 times just by merely glancing through them. I won't mention them since I'm not through with them yet.
   
   Unless you want to add this to your collection, do not buy this as an informative tool



3. This book, original or updated, even if free, is NOT useful for any new or established collector TODAY.

   It is wholly inadequate in it's meager sampling (primarily performed in 1990) and it's lack of ANY pricing awareness or concern for a book's value being modified by being a torn first edition, or being a great later revision or mass produced reprint.
   
   A useful update of this book, and more inclusive, selective and useful, could be created by sampling current Amazon book reviews with prices. To be more inclusive for true pricing, sampling a week's ACTUAL SALES of cookbooks on EBAY (Thousands of cook book titles and prices WITH condition of book sold-TRULY- Up to Date!), collating the titles and prices, indicating if first edition etc., having a price spread for books in various conditions, and publishing it...here's a strong hint to any would be (and successful) Cook Book Price Guide writers-I'll buy YOUR book! Through these methods, a new collector could better learn what's a great cook book (by published reviews of historic or literary merits), and pass over the "Fluff" of many titles in this dated price sampling.

   Though "updated" again in the 1990's since 1990, over 15 years ago (as of 2004), it is still a small sampling and hodgepodge of titles and prices reflecting only as Ms. Dickinson freely admits.."actual sales within recent months in our area". Today we are, in this time of internet access, in a world far more encompassing than Ms. Dickinson's local community of 1990, 1995 or later. The prices of some books have skyrocketed since this publication. Pity the collector who might pass over a very valuable book today...just becaue it was not listed, or because it was priced at $2 back then...

   For example, it has listings only for the Settlement Cookbook's 1938 22 ed and the 1949 edition, never clueing the reader into the First Edition of 1911 and later editions. It ignores the wonderful 50+ set of Time-Life Foods of the World Cookbooks entire existence!

   Looking up Mrs. Beeton's Classic "Every-Day Cookery" or other classic illustrated books from before the 1880's and onward, this lists only ONE Mrs. Beeton book...and from 1967, at that!!! Oh yes, this price list is from books sold in Ms. Dickinson's limited local area over a few months sampling time..what should I, or another collector hope for then or now, from such a "sampling"?

   There are tens of thousands of cookbook titles currently available, and thousands now published each year! This outdated listing of few book titles gives no clue as to a book's importance, if any, to collectors overall. It does a disservice by not "starring" titles of books that are "perceived" by collectors as being of more historic or literary merit than others. Itdoes not indicate books, with or without "prices" that are considered just plain "enjoyable" readings ...and this modification could make for a useful book to be prepared for a beginning collector.

   The Recipe leaflet titles in this under 200 page book further dilutes any value of this book to cookbook collectors as well, as the few leafelets better belong in a booklet mentioning their all important Fine to Poor condition with prices.

   Read books like Cookbooks Worth Collecting by Mary Barile for a historical taste of cookbooks (despite the 1994 prices), and realize that you will have to cobble information gleaned from additonal books and the internet to get an idea of the vast history, daily life, and aspirations of the authors and readers in their times, reading recipes from Medieval times, to Iron Chef creations!

   This book has some black and white photos of books also selected willy-nilly, most have no copyright indicated, and why Favorite Dartmouth Recipes, Souffle Spectaculars (1969), Stocking Up (1977) have a photo, and many of the classics do not is again, limited to and by the painfully brief sampling performed back in 1990!!

   This is not a book written by a cookbook lover or true collector...and is shows in it's glaring omissions of classics, and included "fluff" of local cookbooks that expands it's apparent number of books sampled.

   If you want a book for pricing since the 1990's...this is NOT it! If you want to learn about cookbooks in any way, this is NOT for you, either! An enticing title perhaps, 15 years out of date, and not much more to offer.




4. New cookbook collectors will find this an invaluable reference tool for evaluating their collection. Although missing the historical information found in other reference books on the subject, the sheer number of cookbooks listed makes it well worth the investment. While my copy showed 1999 values on the cover, I found little difference in the few listings checked against a 1993 revision of the same book. Overall, Dickinson's values tend to be lower than other price guides, but this book is still a very useful reference. Despite any shortcomings, this book receives an enthusiastic 5 stars just for being the absolute SIMPLEST reference book on the subject I have found. All titles are listed alphabetically - no thumbing through different categories and trying to decode the author's mindset for classifying a particular book.