Antiques Collectibles Books

John Shea's "Measured Drawings of Museum Classics" is itself a classic. It is not just a book about furniture; he carefully includes enough information on the Shakers, their history and their religion to give the reader an appreciation and understanding of the people and their passion for piety, humility, industry and kindness. It was these virtues that gave birth to their beautiful classical simple and elegant furniture -- which has been admired by "the world's people" for two hundred years.

During his preparation to write his book, John visited several Shaker communities and museums. At Sabbathday Lake and Canterbury, he was fortunate to meet the surviving members of the Shakers including Mildred Barker and Gertrude Soule, both of whom have now passed away. Written in 1971, it includes pictures of Shaker buildings, woodenware and furniture from five of the Shaker communities and ten museums.

I have owned my copy for several years. I recently bought copies to give to two friends for Christmas, both experienced woodworkers, who indicated a desire to build furniture. It is inexpensive and completely in black and white but it contains pictures and measured drawings of 87 Shaker furniture and woodenware. In addition, it has pictures of hundreds of other shaker items and a wealth of information about the people and their communities.

He includes adequate step-by-step instructions of the assembly and finishing of three simple projects - a candle stand, a step stool and a bench. The instructions for cutting dovetails for the step stool is particularly helpful to a new furniture student.

Of all the books about the Shakers and their furniture, this is probably the best low cost, balanced introduction to the Shakers, their way of life and their furniture.

I was impressed by the detail of the Shaker way of life. I was looking for ideas and drawings,and I found out that the Shakers were very resourceful and inventive. This is a must read if you want to make Shaker furniture.

It was what we were looking for and met our expectations

I bought this book to help me value a number of Nippon items I had in my inventory. If that is what you are looking for, find another book. I believe the cheapest item I found in the book was for $100, and most were well above the $500 level, in fact, many in the $1000's. I know my items are not worth anywhere close to this! Apparently the author chose to picture only the most expensive items.

This is an informative book, however. The opening is history, culture, and FAQ's. It has an EXTENSIVE list of backmarks, and points out numerous fake markings with very good line drawings showing the differences. There is a full chapter picturing pieces that are fake, reproduction, or fantasy pieces. Unfortunately, no prices for these pieces, which would have been helpful as long as they are pictured.

The rest is a lavishly pictured run through the ABC's of possible items, for example, Bird scenes, black collectibles, children's items, dolls, hunt scenes, etc. Pictures generally show individual items, with prices underneath -(convenient). However, as beautiful as the pictures are, they show only a tiny smattering of the possible designs or items availble under each category. Thus, a great book showing the beauty of especially the top end of Nippon items, but not functional for identifying and pricing the majority of items you probably have in your possession.

An informative book introducing Nippon and some gorgeous pictures. For pricing your collection, you'll have to find other sources.

Author Judith Price is President of the National Jewelry Institute: her background has long been in French art and jewelry, so she's the perfect choice to write an authoritative review and history in MASTERPIECES OF FRENCH JEWELRY. Over a hundred photos of pieces owned by Americans - most never seen by the public before - accompany historical background which covers jewelry from the late 1800s to modern times. There's a thoughtful attention to the layout on each page that juxtaposes large-size photos of pieces with good-sized, clear text descriptions and commentary. Both specialty art and jewelry libraries and more general-interest holdings will find in MASTERPIECES OF FRENCH JEWELRY a welcome, popular reference.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

You might purchase this book for the tolerably decent photos of French jewelry, but don't expect a scholarly, in-depth discussion of the subject. Price's writing is almost laughably bad, consisting as it does of pointless, unhelpful captions ("The engraved goldwork on the front of the owl signals its use as an accessory of a refined lady.") and smarmy, gushing intros for a bunch of B- and C-list socialite collectors, including such luminaries as Actress, Producer, and One of America's Leading Motion Picture Executives Dina Merrill Hartley (daughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post--"one of the richest women in the world," we're told) and "the First Lady of Fiction" ...Barbara Taylor Bradford. When Price gets around to discussing French jewelry, the result is much like a high school report cobbled together from material cribbed from an encyclopedia entry--an effect weirdly reinforced by the publisher's decision to print the text in double-spaced format. Her observations are trite, obvious or altogether incorrect (and sometimes all three). Apparently, Price's presidency of the National Jewelry Institute (founded...oh, about last week) is qualification enough to write on the subject. Or maybe it's the fact (see dustjacket flap) that she lives in New York and "Paris, France."

This book documents the astounding pieces contained in the Masterpieces of French Jewelry Exhibit at San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor thru June 10, 2007.
This exhibition honors the breathtaking inspiration, unsurpassed craftmanship and variety of French jewelry from the Art Nouveau period at the beginning of the 20th century to contemporary pieces. All the jewels in the exhibition are illustrated in this inspirational book, in full color and exaggerated detail.
The exhibition begins with several lavish Art Nouveau creations by René Lalique and Georges Fouquet, moving into the Belle Epoch, Deco and Retro styles. The book and exhibit also feature original contemporary examples by Joseph Arthur Rosenthal (JAR).
Fabulous addition to a jewelry lover's library.

As a previous reviewer stated, I also saw the "Masterpieces" exhibit at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco last month, and it was one of the most beautiful shows I've seen at any museum in some time. As with numerous other exhibits I've had the good fortune to see over the years, I expected a good-quality book or catalogue for purchase. Was I in for a surprise with this book! It is JUST AWFUL!

The book gets it's one-star rating because the text is interesting enough, and the typeface is legible. But why does someone buy a book on jewelry in the first place? For the pictures of course, and the pictures in this book are amateurish (the most polite word I could come up with). Most of the photographs appear to have been shot straight on with a flash, no side or backlighting. The jewelry looks flat, one-dimensional, and washed out. Basically, it all looks like cheap costume jewelry. Many photos are printed against a bright, white background. They look like they were cut and pasted in low-grade photo editing software. But worst of all are the numerous shots that are out of focus. There's no excuse for this.

It's disappointing to go to such a nice exhibit and have nothing to remember it by. It amazes me that the National Jewelry Institute approved this publication. The Institute and Running Press really blew this one.

Not much jewelry and the gold Sterle' evening bag (the same one which our company owned and recently sold) is photographed upside down! I gave this book as a gift after one quick flip through. Should cost $5.00 (incl shipping)

Love the photos and the author's explanation of Things Japanese. I inherited many things from my mother and didn't know the history of them, until I read this book. Lovely coffee table book that provides beautiful photos, short-sweet, but detailed history & uses of everyday things I associate with Japan--tea ceremony items, shoji screens, kimonos & dolls. It also documents unusal items most Westerners don't know about--wooden chests, masks and entrance curtains.

You won't regret purchasing this beautiful book.

The Washington quarter coin folder volume 2 (1948-1964 inclusive) by Whitman, is a superb way to collect and showcase your coins. By using the lock-in feature, the coins are kept in place to prevent coin loss. Each coin slot is designated with the year, mint mark (D,P,or S)and the mintage. I particularly like the mintage, since it lets me know just how many quarters were made in one year in relation to another. It's also nice to have a brief history lesson about the Washington quarter in order to give us some appreciation of its heritage.

This book is only for those looking to use gold leaf for signs. That is this book's complete focus - gold lettering on windows, cars/trucks, and wood signs. It goes into extraordinary detail and is excellent for people wanting to learn how to use gold leaf for making signs.

I have found this collection of advertising characters indispensable as reference. A brief history of the subject matter is included and reads well. The lack of an index is perplexing, and given the occupations of its authors the cover design should have been a little more proficient. Otherwise it is well worth a look or two or three.

My wife and I had fun laughing at some of the characters in this book. Apparently there was NOTHING you couldn't make fun of back in the 1950s.

Even if you're not interested in advertising this is still an enjoyable little book, fun to look at while sipping tea on a rainy afternoon. Well worth the money.

My brother is a commercial artist and his personal artistic style is kind of "retro". I got this book for him for his birthday because I though he might like to have it around for inspiration just in case he needed some someday. I was right! He loved it. I was surprised at the size of the book. It's kind of small, but it gets it's point across just fine. Being a fan of nostalgia, I wouldn't mind having it for myself.

The compilers have done a wonderful job; the layouts are absolutely marvelous, a real pleasure to flip through, great retro colors used, and should be an essential addition to the collection of anyone who enjoys 50s & 60s graphics.

Tons of product logos here, with the bulk of them from the 30s to the 70s. These are reproduced very well, and each of them is dated and carries a two-line description of their purpose and company origin. There are a few pages of introductory front matter that summarize the history of product logos, but the meat of the book is taken up by the graphics, with anywhere from one to four logos per page. I didn't know there were so many anthropomorphic logos, among them Mr. Coffee Nerves, Mr. Dee-Lish, Mr. TV Tube, Phillips Screw Man, Johnny-One-Note, Miss My-T-Fine, Miss Fluffy Rice and Mr. Weatherball. Many of them you'll recognize, and some of them you won't, but all of them will delight you.

I found this beautiful picture book of French Fashions from the 19th century an absolute delight.

The pictures are excellently drawn, in FULL COLOR, and filling an entire page. Most of the pages show two ladies in lovely costumes from the period.

The brief text either explains the occasion for which the dress would be worn, or the materials and fabric of the gown.

There is always a bit of background color behind the ladies so they are not on a stark white page, yet the background does not, in any way detract from the ladies and their apparel.

There are more detailed explanations of each of the gowns featured , listed and numbered, at the front of the book.

There are also a couple of pages featuring various bonnets and hats for spring and winter wear.