PrevNext 
Return to Album
PLEASE CLICK ON PICTURE OF BOOK TO READ ENTIRE REVIEW

BY MANON KAVESKY


Title: Jewels of Passion: Costume Jewelry Masterpieces
Author: Sherri R. Duncan with Deby A. Roberts
Type of Book: Hard Cover
List Price: $39.99 better pricing available on Amazon.com and Powellsbooks.com
In Print: Yes, published November 2008
Pages: 176

Brief Description of Book: Jewels of Passion is a very personal story
about Sherri Duncan, a veterinarian who got bit by the costume
jewelry-collecting bug in 1996. She has amassed a wonderful collection
of top of the line signed and unsigned pieces.  The jewelry is
beautifully photographed and accompanied by short descriptive captions
for each piece. You will love it or hate it but there are also
personal photo album type photos of the author wearing her fabulous
collection at social events, parties and even on the job in her vet
practice.


Quantity of Illustrations: Very good 360 plus color photographs. All
the jewelry is photographed on black backgrounds and looks
professional. There are several photographs per page a single view of
each piece, no close-up details or photos of construction. There are
also examples of the same piece in different color combinations. This
is a catalogue of a collection and the collector has really lovely
taste.
Score: 9

Quality of visual material: The items included Jewels of Passion are
of high quality, great makers and great pieces, no second rate items
in this book (my opinion, of course). The subtitle of this book is
Costume Jewelry Masterpieces and I second that! I would not have a
hard time picking something I like on every single page.

There are cute candid photos of the author, her friends and associates.
Color Photos: Lots
Score: 9

Quantity of Information: There is not a lot of factual information in
Jewels of Passion the photos speak for themselves.
Is the information thorough? The captions are basic and identify the
maker of a piece and describe the components of a particular item.

Comments: This book is not trying to educate the reader on any
particular point of costume jewelry collecting, it is trying to
entertain the reader and share the delight of collecting. Jewels of
Passion is inspirational presenting the reader a goal to strive for,
to improve the overall character of their collection with higher
quality pieces.

Score: 5

Quality of Information: Does not apply
Accuracy (Mistakes?) Does not apply, although there is an interesting
comment on Amazon.com identifying the bracelet on the cover of the
book. It is Hobe.
Comments
Score NA

Values Listed (Prices) no

User Friendly:
Is the book easy to read and follow? Yes, Jewels of Passion is a very
personal story about the author’s jewelry collection.
Is there a table of contents? Yes, arranged alphabetically by jewelry
company name.
Is there an index? Yes. There is a lot on non-relevant indexed information.
Is information easy to find? Yes

Score: This book scores rather low on the criteria that have been set
out for rating jewelry books. Several of the categories don’t apply,
like values, there are no values in this book and quanitiy of
information. So to do an average of usual categories would drag the
score down to a point where this would seem like a do not buy.
Average score not totaled


Is this book a must have? Yes. Beautiful.
Photo 26 of 132, book2_1.jpg, 42KB, 640x640, 203 Hits
Other Sizes: Original Medium
 Back to Thumbnails