No comments about Toys & Prices 1998 (Toys and Prices, 1998).

No comments about How To Draw a Manga (How to Draw Manga).

No comments about Dolls (London Connection).

No comments about The Golly Collectors Handbook: 2003/04 (Collector's Choice).

2 comments about Marbles Beyond Glass.

1. Collecting the full spectrum of non-glass marbles is collecting the history of toy marbles. It should have been impossible to produce a book on non-glass marbles without mentioning details of their history and production, but this has now been accomplished, unfortunately.
   The hundreds of individual marble pictures vary greatly in interest. Many are redundant and the inferior pictures detract from the few excellent examples illustrated.
   Antique agate marbles are interspersed with modern mineral marbles.There is very little or nothing mentioned of wooden, hollow brass, limestone, alabaster, stoneware, sewer-tile or ivory toy marbles.
   Any ceramic marble coated with a colored glaze is called a "bennington", which is not helpful.
   There is no mention of the largest US agate marble factory which cut and ground Mexican onyx in the 1920s and 1930 in Los Angeles, California.
   No contemporary marble makers are named, although their marbles are illustrated profusely.
   No distinction is made between earthen ware, red ware, stone ware (very old German as well as 100 year old Akron), yellow ware (generally from the US) white ware or porcelain (usually German).
   Any marble with surface lines is arbitrarily called "line pottery" or "line crockery" or "lined china".
   Unfortunately, since rarity does not greatly influence price (value) amongst many ordinary ceramic toy marbles, it appears there was no incentive for the author to accurately categorize them.
   I'm not looking for a treatise on ceramics, but at a list price of $50, some attempt should have been made to progress from the folksy and sloppy jargon of the past to well established classification used by ceramic collectors. Such impaired communication inhibits progress; ceramic marble collectors will have to wait for a better book, which is long overdue.



2. This book is mostly a collection of pictures of individual marbles, seven to a page, supposedly marketed as an identification and price guide. It turns out to be a terrible waste of time and money for everyone.
   Promulgation of confusing and inaccurate terminology should have ceased long ago, with the publication of more factual marble books such as Gartley and Carskadden's "Colonial Period and Early 18th Century Children's Toy Marbles" and Paul Baumann's "Collecting Antique Marbles".
   There is a minimum of text, probably because of a scarcity of knowledge on the author's part. An obvious lack of appreciation of the origins and manufacturing techniques of these marbles creates some major errors and omissions. For example, a variety of distinctly different marbles are lumped together as either "lined pottery" or "lined crockery" or both. Painted clay marbles, variegated porcelain marbles as well as decorated American stoneware marbles are all called "lined pottery". The same photograph is sometimes repeatedly used with a different caption. The term "sponge ware" is used so frequently and inaccurately as to be meaningless. No mention is made of the ubiquitous limestone marble, nor the uncommon marble cut and ground from red veined marble, which probably gave toy marbles their name. No distinction is made between modern machine ground, semi-precious stone marbles, (cheaper by the pound at rock shops) and expensive hand cut German agates from the 19th century. We don't need seven individual pictures of blue "Bennington" marbles (a misnomer by the way) on a single page! Cane handles are lumped together with distinctly different painted china marbles, and the artists responsible for modern painted china marbles are not acknowledged. There is not a single reference to any of the numerous and often inaccurate statements, and the short bibliography is useless. A lack of an index is not surprising, as I doubt the author could ever come up with one, given the disorganization of the book. This is a book any experienced collector would find useless and to which no new collector should ever be exposed.

1 comments about Fast Food Toys: With Values (A Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. This was my first book that got me started with fast food toy collecting. Its got hundreds of full-color pictures of many of the entire series of fast food collectibles from all the major restaurants, as well as plush toys, a foreign toy section, and index. It comes complete with price ranges, manufacturer markings, restaurant, name, and year (from the late 70s to some of 1996) as well as a spot to annotate the toys you own. This book is a must for any collector! John Gaska, Prattville AL.

1 comments about Mechanical Singing-Bird Tabatieres.

1. This book is a must for anyone contemplating the purchase of an antique automaton singing bird box. The late author was THE world-renowned expert in restoring these miniature works of mechanical and artistic wizardry. Divided into sections based on the manufacturers or country of manufacture, each section is extremely informative and clearly written. The mechanisms are shown in various stages of disassembly and detailed information on proper functioning and repair are provided. Whether you own or plan to own one of these amazing boxes, the book allows you to appreciate the technical aspects of these marvels and makes you comprehend why they command such high prices. Fabulous pictures of boxes from private collections. With knowledgeable restorers being almost non-existent, this is an asset to the owner of a box or to would-be restorers. A+++++

1 comments about Wrestling, Premiere Edition (CheckerBee Fan Guide) (Collector's Value Guides).

1. Well if you are and you love wrestling toys this book is a must have it. It has all the WWF, WCW and ECW action figures in side. For Hasbro to Jakk this book has it all

No comments about Doll's House (Collector Corner).

2 comments about Comic Book Hero Toys.

1. John Marshall is THE toy guru, and his opinion is highly respected. His love for comic toys shines through in this highly entertaining collector's guide. Don't miss it.



2. Ever since the toy market exploded, the cost of action figures has gone through the roof. That's why this "toy collection on paper" is so great--for only thirty bucks, I can look at every toy I ever had or WANTED to have. John Marshall and I must be close to the same age (early-to-mid-thirties), because a lot of his color commentary mirrors experiences I had owning and playing with toys. A fun and funny book, one that's sure to stir up lots of memories.