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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