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End of February Book Review by
Sam Mitchell


Title: Antique Enameled Jewelry
Author: By Dale Reeves Nicholls with Robin Allison
Type of Book: Hard Cover
Average Price: $49.95
In or Out of Print: In print
Number of Pages: 192
Brief Description of Book: “Confessions of a Enameled Jewelry Junkie” is Dale’s preface
about herself and the book. The book covers the “Golden Age of Enamel” of the Art Nouveau
period starting in the 1800's up to about the 1950's


NOTE:   Reviews Based on the following Scoring Measure:
1 Being “Forget It” and 10 Being “Must Have”

QUANTITY OF PICTURES:
    Comments: The book says there are over 450 but I didn’t count them
   SCORE: 8

QUALITY OF PICTURES:
    Black and White Pictures? None
    Color? All color
    How good are the pictures? The picture run from Terrible to really Good
    Are there close ups of the marks? No just a page of a few hand drawn marks
    Comments: I really was disappointed in the quality of the pictures over all
    SCORE: 5

QUANTITY OF INFORMATION:
    Range of information offered? Range appears to be really good but the way
    its arranged, you may think otherwise at first
    Is information thorough? Yes and No
    Comments: The information is really good on enameling techniques, but The information is       mostly on gold and silver and although there are some costume jewelry piece it fails
    to move out into that Area of enamel jewelry
    SCORE: 7

QUALITY OF INFORMATION:
    Accuracy (are there mistakes?):
   Comments: I think there some potential problems with some of the dating or
   lack there of

    SCORE: 7

VALUES LISTED:
    Are they helpful or realistic? No
    Comments: Prices are all over the place with gold and silver priced into the next Galaxy
                      With lesser metal priced way low.
    SCORE: 6

USER FRIENDLY:
    Is the book easy to read and follow? Yes
    Are things easy to find (table of contents/index)? Yes
    Comments: I don’t like the way the book is laded out but it works
    SCORE: 9
     

TOTAL AVERAGE SCORE..... 7


Is this a must have book?  No


Overall Comments: I think this is one of those books that appeals to your heart instead
of your head and will make a great addition to your coffee table. The book does contain some Great examples of Enamel jewelry that most people will never, see but fails to really present the Beauty of Enameled Jewelry with all the bad pictures. I was really disappointed in the section on Krementz jewelry. Most of the  pictures were really bad and only one  piece that was not 14 gold was pictured and it was a bad example from 1950's. Some of Krementz best work was on Brass and Gold filled.

The one great thing I liked about the book was that the price guides are placed out of the way at the end of the chapters.

As with any book you are thinking of buying, go to your local book store or library and check the book out to make sure its right for you.
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