Antiques Collectibles Books

This book is everything I wanted. The illustrations are bery good and informative.

I have just started collecting Heywood-Wakefield furniture. I began after seeing a show on Home and Garden TV Network on the reissued Heywood-Wakefield line currently being manufactured. I ordered a catalog from them, visited their web site, then started looking for dealers here in Dallas. Long story short, I found a gentleman here in Dallas who buys and sells antique Heywood-Wakefield pieces. I looked at what he had to offer, and ended up spending a small fortune on several pieces for my bedroom and living room. He swore by this book. This is the Heywood-Wakefield collector's Bible. It has a comprehensive list of nigh every piece Heywood-Wakefield made from about the '20s on. It has pictures of all the pieces, comments on the piece's designer(s), history, and most importantly, an updated (1999) pricing list. Buy this, and you and your dealers will always "be on the same page," literally, when it comes to discussing pieces. This is especially helpful to those who are buying from dealers cross-country. A definite must-have!!!

The 2007 Bomm Precious Moments guide is truly precious since it incorporates retail and secondary values into the same book. The cross-indexing by figurine title and model number is also wonderful. The photos are great quality, too. The guide is a must-have for all collectors!

Took a while to receive due to release issues, but once received, Book is great!

I think this book is a great way to keep track of my Precious Moments and give me a current value of each one. However, because values change from year to year, it could be a lot of work transferring them to a new book each year. I think every couple of years would be fine to keep track of what you have unless you purchase numerous figurines every year.

This guide is an essential reference for any serious collector or anyone buying or selling Precious Moments figurines. The lack of serious competition will make sure this sells. However, there is little improvement in this 3rd edition over the 2006 second edition. The addition of the newer figurines and an update in pricing, which seems to average about 16% increase, are the main differences. There is also a size difference. The second edition was a handy 8.5" x 5.5" but the third ed is 11' x 8.5", which I believe is too large for a soft cover book. There is no new information about each piece that is not in the earlier version. It would have been nice to include the size of each item. There is an annoying change in the index that consolidates several previous entires into entries by series. For example, instead of separately listing the sugar town skating pond there is one listing for the series 'sugar town' with 18 page numbers.

Overall, I was disappointed in this guide and would recommend that anyone not needing information on the last 2 years figurines stays with the 2nd edition and awaits the 4th.

Just received this book in today's mail, and frankly, other than the pictures of the pieces, it is, in my opinion, not worth the paper it is printed on. There is NO secondary market except internet auctions for Precious Moments any more. This guide lists "Free Puppies," for example, as a value of $2,100 - they sell regularly on auction for $300 - $450, depending on whether or not they have a box. Last week, one with an original brown cardboard box (extremely unusual), went for just under $600 in mint condition - a beautiful piece. The rest of the "Original 21" are priced through the roof - some of them 10 times and higher prices than what reality is. There is a disclaimer in the book claiming that the prices vary from spot to spot, and they got this information from dealers and collectors around the country. I wish they would give credit to these so-called knowledgable people, and it would be nice to know who paid $2100 for "Puppies" and how many years ago that happened.

For the pictures, the guide is fine, but beyond that, DO NOT rely on it for accurate price information - even many of the suggested retail prices in the book are incorrect.

I give this one a thumbs-down. There is no secondary market to amount to anything in collectibles any more, in my opinion, and this book's prices just encourage disillusionment among collectors so they keep buying (or investing?) in pieces, hoping to make good money when they sell. It ain't gonna happen - there is a ton more merchandise out there than anyone ever guessed back 30 years ago at the beginning of this.

Buy what you like, like what you buy, and don't expect to put your kid through college when it's time to sell - you might not get back enough money to even pay the bookstore bill!

For what it's worth - my opinion!

There is nothing like great images and insight to bring back a long ago era. This book does a great job at setting the stage! Buy it and enjoy!

l have always been fascinated by the 1950s, it was like no other era in history,The American dream, good old fashion values, and families.It was portrayed as an era of blissful harmony and peacful existence for all. When l came across this book by charles phoenix, l was delighted, you cannot be amazed by this book of ordinary people, capturing their lives, on film in excellent quality. The fact that these pictures still remain, in wonderful quality taken by amateur photographers is truefully historical. If you never lived through the 1950s, and l didnt, because lm 35 years old, and your only glimpse of this era is in the movies, then this book is a real gem. His other book, californialand, is equally great book, which he showes more of these great photos of ordinary people living in the 50s. Great historical books.

Americana the Beautiful is a trip down memory lane; especially for us Baby Boomers.

These old shapshots are great! What a wonderful trip we took every summer when we visited my mother's family in South Carolina. Remember those luggage racks on station wagons? I remember being on the New Jersey Turnpike one time and luggage thtat was tied to the roof blew off. Dad had to pull our station wagon to the side of the road and pick up a suitcase full of diapers for my younest brother!

I have fond memories of the Dairy Queen and the Good Humor mah. The smell was sweet mixed with raw exhaust fumes! What great times those were!

Charles Phoenix has done it again! We've loved each of his books, and the last few we've bought almost as soon as he released them. This one has even more of Charles' trademark old, but crisp, bright and clear, color Kodakchrome slides, all taken by amateur photographers like you and me (or our parents and grandparents!), from all across America, and all with brief, nondistracting, colorful, very witty and informative commentary. It's a perfect gift for a "Fourth of July" Party. You'll laugh as well as be a little saddened by this colorful, visual reminder of our treasured, more innocent and playful past. Cheers and thanks once again to Charles Phoenix. And if you get a chance, check out his website and go see one of his hilarious live shows or tours.

Another selection of snaps rescued by Charles Phoenix just before they might have ended up in the local landfill. In the same format as his excellent 'Southern Californialand' (ISBN 1883318424) and so much better than the earlier 'God Bless Americana' book. The two hundred amateur slides feature a rich seam of everyday life full of white middle class detail (which of course does raise the question: didn't colored folk take photos back then or perhaps they never junk them).

Overall I thought the photo selection was fascinating and grouping them in themes worked well. The last few pages have some intriguing architectural and transport slides like the 1964 flying saucer style State Capitol Bank in Oklahoma City or the late fifties General Motors Aerotrain pulling into a station. On page thirty-six onward there are several pages of people at home showing all kinds of domestic activity, food on tables, kitchens, watching home movies or just enjoying company. It's interesting looking at these photos because they are so unlike anything taken by professionals though sometimes the composition, lighting and color does lift them out of the mundane.

Like 'Southern Californialand' the editorial format works well with photos one to a page, allowing for a deep caption or several slides butted together. My only criticism is that sometimes out of focus images are too large, for example the soft-focus Jefferson Drive-in on page ninety-seven would have worked better much smaller or even rejected. Also captions frequently describe in words what the reader can obviously see in the picture but fortunately many of them also have plenty of historical background detail about things in the photos.

Charles Phoenix has hit on a successful publishing genre and there surely will be more titles to come but until the next one you can follow the latest finds on his website.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

The 2008 US/BNA Postage Stamp Catalog is a MUST have for any beginning collector. It has helped me correctly identify many of my early American stamps and takes the guess work out of were to add stamps to your album

I started collecting US stamps not long ago. I just bought this catalog and really like it - high-quality color pages; coil binding; useful introduction for beginners (and probably for experts too); US as well as UN and Canadian stamps; etc.

Minor con: 2007 stamps are not complete. It should end at 4220 rather than 4159.

For those who do not want to pay for such a catalog, there are free catalogs, for example, the 132-page (in color) soft-cover Mystic's 2008 US Stamp Catalog is pretty good ([...]).

It's great to finally see color reps of the stamps. It's great to still have order pages and gradient pricing depending on the condition of the stamp.
What I could have done without is the hardback format, soft paperback would have been fine and probably cheaper. Unnfotrunately this edition doesn't have one.

This is an excellent catalog for North American stamps. This is the catalog with the binding that allows the pages to remain flat which helps immeasureably when trying to catalog and then place stamps in an album. I wish all catalogs came this way. I rrecommend this book to anyone, beginner to expert.
Al

It's been many years since I've had this book. All of my expectations were satisfied. This book has been the "Bible" for US Paper money as long as I can remember. If you want to understand grading, pricing, or just want to learn about an important piece of American history, its worth the money.

I found this book to be very informative & an important book for any collecter/history buff.

This book provides comprehensive and useful information. The valuations cover different seals, mints, signatures, and star notes. The book also includes some information about the history of each note. It is easy to find information and lookup valuations. The only negative is the black & white photos make it a little harder to distinguish between different seal colors when looking up info.

This is good book about our money and is very educational.
Well worth the price.

This book has been so helpful in my collecting quests. I spent about an hour in Borders trying to find a book that gives values of modern as well as old currency for ranges up to Unc-63. It provides all the necessary information (such as signatures, series, quantity printed) for almost all bills and has a nice informative section as well. It gives price points that help you place a bid on valuable bills. This helps all collectors, experienced or not. I highly recommend this book.

Excellent book for the photos that show most of the guns listed. Price ranges given are good.

For at least the last five or six years I have purchased this guide. This and the Blue Book of Gun Values really work well together for me in making an educated reference point when out in the field and in the vault as well. I like this guide because of the pictures too and there's quite a bit of information and history in it too.
jim

This book is of little value to the serious gun buyer/seller and gives only a rough approximation of a small number of guns in the world. I strongly suggest you instead choose the 25th edition of the Blue Book of Gun Values or the 2004 edition of the Standard Catalog of Firearms. Both have much more detailed information than Gun Trader's Guide in terms of number of guns, conditions, variants, prices, and other useful reference info. The Standard Catalog also has a lot of photos, while the Blue Book has almost none. The Standard Catalog and the Blue Book are what the dealers use in pricing used guns. Either is far better than Modern Gun Values, in my opinion, and I have been a gun hobbyuist for 40+ years.

Excellent pictures, interesting information. This is a must have for Disney fans of the Haunted Mansion! It even covers Disney's other haunted mansions around the world, and the Haunted Mansion movie. Everything you ever wanted to know!

THis book was great! A ton of information on the ride! I couldnt put it down! It was great.

This book is a must read for ALL ages and ANYONE interested in Disney theme park attractions around the globe. Any Disney fan knows that the Imagineers are very particular about what is revealed to the general public in terms of how they make their Disney 'magic' and I was pleasantly surprised (being an avid Disney fan myself) by the research that went into the making of this book and the amount of knowledge shared with the reader - it DOES in fact reveal some secrets of the mansion and never before seen history of the making of the attraction. (It confirms and dispels some rumors about the attraction once and for all too!) A pattern of discussion is followed throughout the book as you are verbally walked through the mansion's corridors and rooms. Surrell consistently covers the Haunted Mansion in a logical order (Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris) in every chapter. He takes the subject matter full circle by including information about how the attraction was translated to the big screen, and gives the reader insight to how decisions were made pertaining to set design, costume design, and casting for the movie of the same name. If you want an intelligent, thorough and enjoyable read about a classic Disney attraction, and especially an insight to the magic that is Imagineering, this is a MUST READ!

Lots o' great info on both the Ride @ the Disney Theme Parks + the Movie [which I loath - sorry but the Haunted Mansion wasn't meant to be made into a 2 hour episode of the Fresh Prince of Bellaire, mmmkay ?] + the Haunted Mansion Holiday ....

Future editions should drop all reference to the Movie, then spend more time on the Haunted Mansion Holiday [Nightmare Before Christmas Holiday makeover] + recent "changes" that occured in 2006 [I'd make it a 5 star if they did that] ....

If you don't want to read the book, please buy it for the artwork
[best priced Disney Merchandise vs. what you will pay @ the Theme Parks] ....

~(^)~

You buy this book thinking it's a great "behind-the-scenes" resource, but it's not. Yes, there is some background information, but the book skips confusingly from park to park, and offers very little technical information on the special effects. The photos are all standard Disney promotional stuff...this book tells you what Disney wants you to know, and nothing else.

Go to doombuggies.com for a much better treatment of this classic ride.

The book is very colorful and my daughters really like them. I wish they were more complete. They do not have the numbers of the animals.

The 2008-2009 edition of CLASSIC WRISTWATCHES packs in features of over 1300 models, including good-sized color photos of each watch, descriptions of manufacture, case and appearance, and company histories. This blend of price guide, identification guide and watch history is outstanding for any collecting watches, and is a highly recommended pick for any library catering to collectors.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Very nice and informative book. Quality is fine and price is fair. I strongly recommend it for watch enthusiasts like me.

I just went over the book, and I was a bit disappointed.
Picture for money is quite interesting, thanks to a lot of images for small bucks, but the goods of the book is just that.

Interesting are the pages with the history of the maisons, that provide some useful hints about not very well known producers.

Organization of the book is quite disappointing, though: the models depicted are put on paper at random, with no age or value order.
As far as I could understand, those are the watches that were estimated by some kind of trader during the year, so no section covers completely the model range of a brand. If you need to evaluate a specific piece, most of the time you have to guess comparing it with similar age-feature watches of the same or other manifacturer.
Some brands aren't even in the book (Breguet? Rado?) while for other you just get 6 models.

The book is useful, anyway: with few dollars it can help you in identifying a particular brand that may catch your imagination, or browse through many hundreds of pictures, to find ideas for particular models, shapes, or features you may like to have in your collection.

If possible get a new copy: I bouth an used one, and the binding glue went bad: pages started to part from the book.

This book covers a very broad selection of watches and is especially strong in the major brands - Omega, Patek, JLC, IWC. Rolex, etc as well as some of the more "working class" timepieces which today are very collectible.

Some of the calibre and associated information on some of the listings are not totally accurate but on balance, this soft cover resource provides a good point of reference to check value and collectability of many classic watches.

...but this is not a guide you would want to use daily. This is an ok book for higher end collector watches, but very limited.

I was hoping it would cover some or much more of the $200, $300 & $400 watches. Example: Only 8 models of Hamilton watches are shown.

I do like pictures: very nice, color photos. Also gives some history on the manufacturers of the watches presented in the book.

Nice coffee table book, but for daily reference you need a "Complete price guide to watches" by Engle/Gilbert/Shugart.