1 comments about French Bronze Clocks: 1700-1830.

1. Great book. Very detailled describing the beginning of french clockmakers and their history. Helped me just today in finding a wondeful original french clock at an antique market. Highly recommend.

1 comments about Chip Carving Pennsylvania Dutch Design.

1. The author has written other books about chip carving and she does a good job with this one. You can make some very attractive carvings with this book.

1 comments about Painting Ceramics: How to Paint and Stencil Already Made Ceramics Pieces-12 Projects.

1. I was somewhat disappointed in this book. Some of the featured projects are very nice, others I didn't like at all. That's to be expected, so okay. But the material on tools and techniques I didn't find very helpful. It's a bit outdated as to materials, too. It's good as a third or fourth book on this subject, perhaps. Much better, in my opinion, is "Elegant Porcelain and Glass Painting Projects" by Carin Heiden Atkins.

5 comments about Sterling Silver Flatware for Dining Elegance: With Revised Price Guide (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. EXCELLENT customer service provided for this very informative book. Helped identify many very unusual pieces.



2. This book is full of absolutely beautiful photos of (mostly old) American sterling place and serving pieces. Its strength is to help identify unusual pieces that people today don't have a clue about. Not very useful for identifying patterns, unless you happen to stumble across a photo of a pattern whose name you are seeking. Patterns are not indexed, but types of pieces are. The price guide (e.g., $30 to $85 for a teaspoon) is absolutely useless. Interesting form to photocopy to use to keep track of pieces you acquire.



3. I could not be more pleased with this book. It contains page after page of beautifully photographed flatware and contains the history of numerous popular patterns and the great number of pieces available in the various patterns, including the rare and unusual pieces.



4. I could not be more pleased with this book. It is 204 pages of excellent photographs and descriptions of many patterns, along with a history of the unusual pieces and their original uses. The price guide is just *one* page in this book and is meant only to provide a range. Such a guide would be out of date as soon as published, and it is not realistic to expect it to be current or definitive. (It may have been better left out!) This is the finest book I have seen for a serious silver flatware collector.



5. Lovely pictures and good descriptions for use of various pieces of flatware.

   The "Price Guide" is totally useless! Examples: "Dinner Forks $45-110" "Teaspoons $30-85" "Macaroni Servers $295-1250"

   All pieces are priced and listed just this way. Listing such a dollar range with no patterns or manufacturers mentioned, makes the price guide of no value.

2 comments about Paperclay: For Ceramic Sculptors 3rd Edition.

1. There are few books out there on paper clay, so if you're one who learns by reading there's precious little to choose from. If you're interested in the medium, you probably need to have this book. But be forewarned: though it contains lots of information not currently available from other sources, it's one of the worst-produced books I've seen in a very long time.
   
   The book was evidently never put through a professional editing process, and it shows. It's full of typos, punctuation errors, and confusing sentences. After reading the first few pages, I concluded (erroneously, as it turns out) that English was not the author's first language. Here is a sample garbled sentence, admittedly one of the worst: "Join between bone and soft is usually better that same join at would be leatherhard." Some sections read more like the author's notes rather than a finished manuscript.
   
   Many of the illustrations have been reduced so small that it's difficult to discern what's being shown -- and some of the labels, reduced along with the illustrations, contain type that literally required a magnifying glass to read.
   
   The author decided to use a question-and-answer format for the entire book, which quickly becomes tiresome. As a result, there's no "narrative" to the book and the information is disjointed and episodic.
   
   The book I received, although it says it's the 2007 "third edition," does not look like the one pictured here. Instead, it's printed in a very horizontal format (about 9 inches wide by 5 inches deep), which is awkward to hold and irritating to use.
   
   If you have the patience to deal with all this, much information about paper clay can be gleaned from this book. The author quite obviously knows a lot and seems willing enough to share that with her readers. However, I believe the publisher does her, and us, a disservice by going into a third edition without taking care of these fundamental problems.



2. i have found this companion boock easy and clear to follow.it have beeing a great help developing new forms in my studio.

2 comments about Duccio (Masters of Italian Art Series).

1. Duccio di Buoninsegna (about 1255-1319) was extraordinary, and has been one of my biggest influences as an artist; unfortunately not enough people have heard of him, and this book would be a marvelous way to remedy that oversight, because of its large, beautifully reproduced images. The text by Andrea Weber is minimal but excellent; it gives a sketch of Duccio's life (of which little is known) and times, his place in the artistic life of Siena, and the many commissions he received, the greatest which is the magnificent Maesta. Now surviving only in a fragmentary state, it is in this book "built up of reconstructions" in a "photographic montage" of how most of it must have looked, bringing together the many pieces that are now scattered world-wide. It also has a map of the "hypothetical reconstruction", showing where each piece would have been placed.
   
   The text gives an analysis of each piece, including several Madonnas, the most famous is the Rucellai Madonna (1285), which now resides in Florence's Uffizi, and the following eighty-five pages are given to the Maesta, which was commissioned in 1308. The enormity and complexity of what remains of this work is truly awesome, and the beauty of this book is that it is the closest that we will get to see it in its entirety.
   The last pages are of his "Late Works", and are of two triptyches and one polyptych.
   
   Duccio's colors are deep and rich, and his figures exquisitely expressive. Favorite pieces from the Maesta for me are the main panel, with a loving Madonna holding a Christ Child clothed in the most delicate, diaphanous garments, The Entry Into Jerusalem, with some marvelous perspective for the time in which this was painted, and The Crucifixion, with its agonized Christ figure gazing down on the almost fainting form of Mother Mary.
   A "must have" for anyone who likes iconic art or the superb work of the early Italian masters, the paper used in this book is thick and glossy, and it is a wonderful addition to any art lover's book collection.



2. I do not own this book, yet. I have read some of it and looked at most of it and believe it is a beautiful book. It has a perfect selection of art! It will make a nice gift for my friend whose Master's is in art and who owns some similar art in her home. I will want to add to this review after I purchase the book.

No comments about Fernando Botero (Artistas Serie Menor).

5 comments about Collector's Encyclopedia of R.S. Prussia: Fourth Series.

1. This is an excellent book! I teach an antique porcelain class and found it useful to gain expertise quickly. This book is successfully used by appraisers, dealers, collectors and teachers. I have read many porcelain books, and this one was one of the easiest to read and understand. It was well organized and contained a good variety of the styles and characteristics of RS Prussia.

   All four volumes are needed to identify pieces, although Ms. Gaston provides a shape guide to help date pieces not pictured.

   What I'd like to see in the next book is 1) clarification on how the marks were made, i.e., printed over or under glaze, 2) the types of glazes used (and were pieces refired) 3)repeat of history with changes incorporated, verses the new and updated info section. The history only appears fully in the ist volume.




2. Okay- I admit it. I did not have a room full of R.S.Prussia china to reference when I bought this book. I just loved the pictures and had to have it! I can dream a little dream and imagine finding a portrait bowl or vase at a small town flea market for next to nothing...and then I can look up its worth and smile as I place my prize in the china cabinet ( a coveted possession NOT for resale!).



3. Wonderful book with full color pictures. Also pictures of the marks. Great price guide! Will use this over & over.



4. As a new collector of R.S. Prussia I found this book to be an excellent reference. It's detailed description and beautiful pictures of the different molds, decorations and marks was very helpful. I know there are a lot of "fake" pieces on the market and this book is proving to be an invaluable guide for me. The history was very interesting also. Thank you Ms. Gaston! A really beautiful book and very informative.



5. This book was very insightful for me. I was searching for a particular "mark" on a piece that I own. This was the only book that was of help.

1 comments about American Bisque: A Collector's Guide With Prices (A Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. This book is very well done and easy to use as a reference guide. It has extensive collections of planters, banks and cookie jars as well as other ware produced by the American Bisque Pottery. The history of the pottery was extensively researched and really interesting. The photography is just fabulous and there are some very rare pieces shown here. In my opinion, having collected cookie jars for over 20 years, I think this book is a "must have" in your research library. If you're like me, you will enjoy looking at it over and over just for the pleasure of it, but it will also help you put together an awesome collection of your own and prevent you from mistaking reproductions for the real thing. In today's world that could save you a bundle! I recommend this book very highly.

No comments about Daniel Brush: 30 Years Work.