Collectibles Books

beautifully printed, reads well, gets you interested in these stamps even if you didn't mean to. suddenly ... you're a philatelist!

Any library strong in stamp collecting, whether it be a specialty collection or a general-interest lending library, will find the oversized presentation of 100 GREATEST AMERICAN STAMPS to be a gorgeous presentation which packs in illustrations and history to survey American stamp history from pre-Revolutionary to modern times. An eye-catching coffee table presentation packs in over a hundred pages of colorful stamps and stories and makes for a reference which will appeal to history buffs and collectors alike, with its market values, information on print quantities, and catalog references.

Stamp collecting's biggest names collaborated to create one remarkable book! With entertaining stamp stories and large, crisp illustrations, 100 Greatest American Stamps is perfect for stamp collectors and history buffs alike.

The 100 Greatest American Stamps were selected by a group of philately's leading experts, dealers and collectors. The finalists range from the greatest U.S. stamp rarities to controversial issues and common commemoratives that are perennial favorites. Janet Klug (immediate past-President of the American Philatelic Foundation and a Linn's contributor) and Donald Sundman (President, Mystic Stamp Company) tell the in-depth story behind the stamps.

Extra-large, crystal-clear images showcase each of these legendary stamps. The detail is impressive - I saw new details on stamps I only thought I was familiar with. Leafing through the pages was like peeking into the world's most exclusive collections. Readers will see the love letter carried in the Alexandria Postmaster Provisional (Blue Boy) cover, examine the famous Ice House Cover, and marvel over other unique items! Related collectibles, including banknotes, medals, and war bond posters, add historic perspective. Issue quantity and historic market values are included, making it fun to trace the market trends. Additional treats include the history of collecting, honorable mention, and a philatelic timeline that shows the important role of U.S. stamps in American history.

Collectors will find the introduction fascinating. Bill Gross, who became the only person to assemble a complete 19th century U.S. stamp collection with his acquisition of the 1¢ Z Grill, tells us what inspires him. Klug and Sundman share their stories - what motivates them and why they've devoted their lives to the hobby. It's interesting to look into the minds of three of philately's titans and discover that they have equally legitimate - yet wonderfully unique - reasons for collecting.

If you only purchase one book this year, make sure it's 100 Greatest American Stamps.

Reading this book was truly a passage back in time for me. As I was growing up, I played with so many of the toys listed in this book. The Slinky, Lincoln logs, the Spirograph, Cootie, Mousetrap, Etch a Sketch, Mr. Potato Head, Gumby and Pokey, Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots, Twister, Tinkertoys, Frisbees and the Hula Hoop all passed through my hands. With a large number of children my age in the neighborhood, the toys I didn't have were often owned by others. Therefore, reading this book brought back very fond memories of playing with Clive, Sandy, Dale, Rick, Paul, Terry, Cindy and all the other kids who grew up with toys that you physically manipulated. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a background similar to mine.

This 208 page, softbound walk-through-the-past volume features 250 full color, very large, sharp photos that are a joy to behold. I enjoyed looking at the photos and reading each comprehensive write-up. A real memory jogger. I was quite surprised at the number of these things I actually owned as a child, and welcomed seeing them again in life-like color. Even many of the boxes are shown. There's plenty of interesting text accompanying the photos and year 2000 values. The toys run from Easy Bake Ovens, Slinky, Cootie, Thingmakers, Lincoln Logs, and Spirographs to Tootsietoys, Monster Kits, Pez, Colorforms, Life-Size Kitchens, Gilbert, Renwal Doll Stuff and Captain Kangaroo. You'll really enjoy seeing some of these toys you haven't thought of in years. I have many books on baby boomer collectibles, and this one ranks among the best. Get it and enjoy !

No generation is so defined by its toys as the Baby Boomers. They loved them as kids. They collect them as adults. 100 GREATEST BOOMER TOYS explores the phenomenon. It's fun and it's serious.

First the fun. The books got hundreds of great pictures. It's like a Christmas catalog. Look up old favorites. Discover items you'd forgotten.

And there's a ranking system which seems pretty much designed to provoke arguments. Wait until you see who's #1!

More substantially there are short essays on many of the toys. Little studies in anthropology, in social history, they tell us about the 50's and 60's. The tie-in of G.I. Joe and the draft is, I think, very apt and really well done.

Once you pick it up, you will be drawn in.

As a member of a Dollhouse and Miniatures Club, this book on the advertising of early dollhouses, I find this book a MUST BUY for all collectors and other people seeking info on dollhouses and the styles that were out there for the public to buy. Again, as a collector, it is essential to have a book like this to use as a "guide", especially when so many houses and furniture of these periods are unknown and this also gives a glimpse into how these products were advertised to entise the public, especially children to buy these products. This book is yet another fantastic book by Dian Zillner to further eductate us in the past and present Dollhouse and Furniture collectables.

I purchased this book for my Mom for Christmas and she was in heaven!

I didn't want to wait the 2-3 weeks to receive this, so I purchased it from one of the secondary sellers listed in the Amazon ad page and got a wonderful NEW book for under $20.00! Paging thru this fun nostalgic book is just like Christmas morning for any baby boomer who was a little girl waiting for Santa in the 1940's thru 1960's.....also has some 1970's dollhouses and furniture. What a wonderful find! You will love it!

One of the best card sets that I have ever come across. Truly meant to be one of TSR's greatest accomplishments in the trading card industry.

In the world of trading cards, this set is a monster... it was actually released in two parts, however, cards in packs are much more difficult to find than these factory sets. What I like most is the artwork...where else can you find 750 unique examples of fantasy artwork, all at once?

Not actually a book, this set is an accumulation of 750 cards of various items, monsters, people, etc. from various AD&D worlds. The uses for these are near infinite! Need random encounters, draw a card from the monster pile... Same with items, NPC's, artifacts, traps, and maps! The sub-series are excellent! And, no matter what world your campaign takes place in (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, SpellJammer, DragonLance, Ravenloft, or Dark Sun) there are TONS of cards to suit your needs. I stronly recommend this set, though they are near-impossible to find. Hope you enjoy them if you get them!

I've read them all but this book is the best. Not only does it offer values and great illustrations it also provides a snapshot of the lure maker. You will be amazed at what you didn't know about these ancient lures.

Arlan Carter's 19th Century Fishing Lures is outstanding both as a collector's guide and as a fisherman's general reading reference. Chapters document lures manufactured before 1901 and provide color photos and histories organized by manufacturer. A 'must' for the avid fisherman, and a nice gift package.

This is an outstanding book for anyone who is interested in early metal, "spinner" type lures. Up until now, metal lures have been a largely overlooked and under-rated area of tackle collecting. In his book, Mr. Carter combines a wonderful collection of pictures with detailed information. This is a real gem of a book and should definitely be added to every tackle collector's reference library.

I bought this book when I started collecting Canadian commemorative dollars and the book has been a big help providing information like mintage figures, images of the coins, and prices. It also gives the sizes in mm for the different coins which makes ordering albums or holders a lot easier.
I would recommend this book to beginners and long term collectors a like if they are buying Canadian or Mexican coins. I have several other world coin books and this book provides more useful information and is easy to follow.
I just finished a US modern commemorative collection and I wish I had had this book when I was buying coins for that. The pricing of the coins in this set aren't correct in this book but the other information is valuable.

I have ordered this book year after year for my dad for several years. This year he told me that the book has more information about the mexican coins, in fact, he order several books for all his friends.

If you had an older edition or you are interested in mexican coins, you should buy this book.

Terrific little book, I use it all the time. If you have been collecting coins for years then you may not need this book but you are going to want it. It catalogs all (as the title suggests) the North American Coins (U.S., Canada & Mexico). On the other hand if you are just getting started in coin collecting then this book is an essential. Either way, it's well written and accurate, enough said.

very extencive and complet.

The Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide published by KP Books and the editors of the Comic Buyers Guide continues to be my comic price guide of choice. The 2007 edition is another 832 pages of prices and information from primarily1961 to the present. A more apt description may be from the beginning of the Silver Age to the present as if covers those DC books such as Showcase # 4 which kicked off what we know today as the Silver Age of Comic books.

There are several things I love about this book. First, it can, if you wish, be used as a checklist. Rather than list comics in a run of issues (for example, Avengers 101 - 110) and listing one price for each issue in that run, this book lists each issue number individually with a check box next to it to check off if you own that issue. Hence the reason that it covers only the silver age to the present, otherwise it would be about 2000 pages instead of 800. I like this idea as a quick reference to one's own personal collection. Second, it lists only the near-mint price for each book with a grading guide to figure out prices for lesser condition books. Anyone who's been collecting comics for any length of time can easily do this right off the top of their heads and I've never found it necessary to list three different prices for comics.

Another thing I like is that the book lists the month and year of each issue. This is a small tool that I think people overlook but that I have found to be very useful. But I think what the Comic Book Chcecklist Price Guide doesn't give you is just as important as what it does give you...namely it doesn't give you hundreds of pages of ads like Overstreet does. It also doesn't give you dozens of pages of stale market reports from dealers whose motives are somewhat dubious in what they report in terms of price information. Rather than rely on this `advisor' information this book has garnered real world data from auction services like eBay to provide what I feel is true pricing, black & white data and that's all I really need...not some dealer in Hoboken claiming to have sold book X for seven billion dollars.

If you want a true price guide without all the vacuous fluff then this is the comic book price guide for you!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Best title in its class!
This Title has a very diverse collection of titles and values good for finding the value of an old unheard of comic. There is normally multiple dollar values for each comic edition and its associated grade on a scale of 1-10. All this book needs is some more guide lines on how to price out comics that are signed and have CGC authentication. They do have general rules for determing CGC (professionally graded comics from a new company) comic values but they seem a little off especially when combined with fractional grades.

I really love these books. I am fascinated by the technique used to get the 3-d affect. I have everyone out.

I personally love highly detailed stereograms by Bohdan Petyhyrycz and this 3D-book is a great collection of his works. Unlike popular Magic Eye series, in this book each stereogram has lots of details in a hidden scene. In addition to that Bohdan adds more realism to his stereograms by using photographic images for hidden 3D characters. It really helps to recognize what's inside, behind the magical image.

An engaging use of 3-D stereogram art. I enjoyed the artistic unfolding of the two-dimensional scenes into the hidden view of 3-D Angels. I was surprised by the almost photographic quality of the angels, complete with faces.

I read the whole Death of Superman saga when it was originally published in the early 90's. I was completely hook with the storyline. But my favorite always has been Funeral for a Friend aka A World Without Superman. The story begins immediately after Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday in Superman 75. In this arc Superman is obviouly absent.He is only seen in action as flashbacks or part of peoples dreams and/or memories.So the story focus in Superman's supporting cast, mainly Lois Lane, and the Kents specially Pa Kent who cannot accept the fact that his son is gone.The story tells how they deal with their everyday problems without him, and the emotional aspect of the characters that mourns the death of their friend.This is a very touching story that you never will get bored of.

I read the whole Death of Superman saga when it was originally published in the early 90's. I was completely hook with the storyline. But my favorite always has been Funeral for a Friend aka A World Without Superman. The story begins immediately after Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday in Superman 75. In this arc Superman is obviouly absent.He is only seen in action as flashbacks or part of peoples dreams and/or memories.So the story focus in Superman's supporting cast, mainly Lois Lane, and the Kents specially Pa Kent who cannot accept the fact that his son is gone.The story tells how they deal with their everyday problems without him, and the emotional aspect of the characters that mourns the death of their friend.This is a very touching story that you never will get bored of.

I read the whole Death of Superman saga when it was originally published in the early 90's. I was completely hook with the storyline. But my favorite always has been Funeral for a Friend aka A World Without Superman. The story begins immediately after Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday in Superman 75. In this arc Superman is obviouly absent.He is only seen in action as flashbacks or part of peoples dreams and/or memories.So the story focus in Superman's supporting cast, mainly Lois Lane, and the Kents specially Pa Kent who cannot accept the fact that his son is gone.The story tells how they deal with their everyday problems without him, and the emotional aspect of the characters that mourns the death of their friend.This is a very touching story that you never will get bored of.

My two sons have spent hours pouring over these pages, and working very hard to make their planes look like the originals. First coloring book my 10 y/o has ever wanted to use!

The book is very well done. The aircraft depicted are done so realistically. My grandkids love coloring in this book. It's great for kids of all ages.

This is a very easy book to color and a lot of fun. Although the author gives detailed coloring instructions in the captions, they may be a bit challenging if one is not familiar with parts of the plane. I found an excellent site on the internet which provided me with small color images of many of the planes, which helped a lot. The site is: www.aviation-central.com
The book is a "must" for any military aviation enthusiast who also likes to color.