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End of April Book Review by
Manon Kavesky

Title: Collecting Costume Jewelry 101: The Basics of Starting, Building
and
Upgrading Identification and Value Guide.
Author: Julia C. Carroll
Type of Book: Paperback, with sewn signatures! (This means a big book
won't
fall apart)
Average Price: $24.99
In Print
Pages: 304

Brief Description of Book
This book lives up to its name and is a great gift for someone you may
know
who is just getting hooked on buying vintage costume jewelry. It would
make
a great companion gift to a fabulous vintage piece. This book
Collecting 101
is a bit basic for many of the subscriber's to this list.

The core thesis of the book is G-U-I-D-E an acronym that stands for:
    Is the piece in Good condition?
    Do U Like it?
    Is it a good investment?
    Is the piece designer signed and is it well designed?
    Are there extras that make it more interesting?
These questions are posed to help the buyer select good pieces at
whatever
price point they are starting to collect at. The author explains her
GUIDE
concept quite concisely and uses it throughout the book.

The author suggests four designers that beginners should collect
Trifari,
Coro, Kramer and Weiss. She recounts a little history about each of the
companies, shows photos of their marks and recommends pieces to
purchase.
For example she suggests Trifari from the 50's and 60's because it is
plentiful, available in excellent condition and not too expensive. The
author uses a lot of photos to illustrate these sections

The next portion of the book is arranged the alphabetically and cameos
130
designers. Each profile contains a little company history, marks,
signature
look of a designer and recommendations of pieces to buy.

In the next chapter there is a section called Marked by Style on
identifying unmarked jewelry. A little more than a beginner skill in my
opinion but an interesting section to ponder nonetheless. She focuses
75% of
her energy on Juliana, the remaining 25% on Eisenberg, Dorothy Bauer,
Hattie
Carnegie, Goldette, Haskell, Hollycraft, Sarah Coventry, Schauer,
Schreiner
and Weiss.

The remaining chapters cover:
    Upgrading your collection
    Repairing and Cleaning
    Cataloging a Collection
    Storing and Insuring a Collection

Over all the advice is quite sound, the G-U-I-D-E principle should be
followed it will really help anyone avoid unfocused buying.

Quantity of Illustrations:
There are more than 750 total illustrations in Collecting Costume
Jewelry
101. There are color photographs, original advertisements in color and
black
and white. The photos are clear and focused.


Quality of Illustrations:

Comments: The items selected are not riveting I think that they are
pedestrian. Maybe that is because this book is pitched at beginners.
However
I feel that the selections should be inspirational and exciting. This
is why
the top shelf pieces in a book such as "A Tribute to America" are
always fun
to look at. I felt the items pictured were what the author could get
permission to use. Which leads me to the inclusion of Christmas tree
jewelry! There are too many Christmas trees in this book. And I like
Christmas tree jewelry.

I have one very pointed example that illustrates my low score on the
illustrations. The author devoted 3 pages to Miriam Haskell. In my
opinion
these are not good representative pieces, they are what was available
to
include. There is one pair of beaded earrings, a necklace with gold
chain
and a wood pendant that looks like it was made in shop class to me,
several
strings of beads, a pearl necklace that is not photographed close
enough to
generate any excitement and a pair of gilded earrings. I may sound
harsh
here but the wow factor of buying Miriam Haskell is not expressed in
these
photos. Feel free to disagree!

As a final note on the illustrations, I am reviewing the first edition
of
this book. According to the publisher Collector Books a second edition
should be available soon. They promise 200 new photos and updates on
the
price guidelines that are included in the first edition.

Score:  6

Quantity of Information
Range of Information offered:
For the most part this is a good concise book to check for information.
If
you are looking for in depth information on a particular designer you
should
probably look at a more specialized book. For example there are entire
books
on Haskell, KJL, D &E, to name only a few designers.

Is the information thorough?
The information provided seems to be thorough and remember this is a
book
for beginners.

Comments:
Score: 8

Quality of Information:
Accuracy (Mistakes) The information seems to be correct, but I am not
so
much of an expert that I could spot anything more than the most glaring
mistake. I do not feel qualified to give an opinion on this section.

Score:

Values Listed (Prices) Yes
Are they helpful or realistic? The prices are being updated for a new
edition
The prices are based on what one might hope to get in an e-bay auction.
Comments: Based on the prices sometimes I want to be buying and other
times
I want to be on the selling end of the transaction.
Score 8

User Friendly:
Is the book easy to read and follow? yes
Is there a table of contents and index? yes
Is information easy to find? yes
Comments: Nothing like a good index to make this reader/reviewer happy.
Score: 9

Average score 7.5

Is this book a must have? Only for your friends who are just beginning
to
collect costume jewelry.  I think Costume Jewelry 202 is a vastly
superior
book and I would recommend that (again).

Overall comments
If I had this book many years ago I would have avoided buying stuff I
just
didn't need. I would have made wiser purchases and would have a better
collection today.
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