Collectibles Books

This is an extension of the authors first book, Silver Wings, Pinks and Greens. The section on pilot and aircrew wings is once again outstanding. Any serious collector of WWII wings and insignia must add this book to their library. Highly recommended!!

It seems to date that the author Jon A. Maguire can do no wrong whenever he decides to commit pen to paper. Yet again we have a title that is truly exhaustive in it's coverage of the topic without becoming staid and condescending. Each page is full of highly detailed photographs that describe and illustrate the items perfectly for the collector. His text is articulate, informative and detailed.

If the American Army Air Forces from the period covered are of interest to you then I can offer you know more words of advice other than buy this book. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.

It really is something of a rare event these days when someone writes a scholarly reference work that rapidly becomes a benchmark for others to aspire to, but Jon Maguire just keeps on doing it.

Keep em coming, keep em flying!

As a major collector of Mt Dew bottles and items, I was glad to see such a comprehensive account of the Mt Dew soft drink. Most of this history has been unknown until now. Dick has gone to great lengths to research and interview those who were involved with the formulation of this brand. The many pictures and personal accounts add to the overall enjoyment and add great interest to the reader. All three of Dick's Mt Dew books are a must have for anyone interested in Mt Dew or the post WWII development of the soft drink industry in general.

This is a fascinating story, especially for those of us that live in the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina area. This book leaves no stone unturned in the search for the origin of what is now one of the most populat beverages in the U.S. Before Coke & Pepsi controlled most of the soft drink market, there were several regional bottlers in this area. This book is a great history lesson, as it brings you back to the time when drinks came in a bottle that you returned to the store, where there was often a cooler filled with ice cold water & the drinks were hung by their neck and you had to rearrange some of them to get to the flavor you wanted. Excellently researched, this is a fun read for just about anyone. It'll tickle your innards!

WOW !!! This book was long overdue. What a fascinating story of America's
third best selling soft drink. The book calls the story "a Hatfield and
McCoy feud of the braggin' rights to Mountain Dew" and now I understand
exactly what they mean. This could easily be the basis for "Oh Brother How Art Thou II".

A true story where the main characters were hard working, hard drinking bottlers ... but they are also some of the quirkiest, funniest hillbillies I've ever met.

The book is an extremely interesting read whether you care about Mountain Dew or not. I would recommend it to anyone. The story, Mountain Dew, could easily pass as one of the most entertaining case studies I've read. The book is very well researched, well documented and includes great old B/W pictures from the early years of bottling.

Oh yeah ... I also wanted to know more about how Pepsi markets Mountain Dew today. And I did. I learned all about Code Red, Livewire, Amp etc ... I even learned what happened to Mountain Dew Code Blue.

Overall, a great read !!!

What's not to like? The pictures are beautiful and the information is good. Prices are accurate too. One of the few items in my short history of collecting glass that I've found actually can be bought and sold for the prices listed. My only complaint is that a number of times they picture the same item twice. We love pictures, surely there were enough items available that pictures didn't have to be repeated.

Author Kenneth M. Wilson passed away before publication of his opus MT. WASHINGTON & PAIRPOINT GLASS - but he reviewed and approved the page proofs and had written two chapters of the projected second volume (which will be prepared in future using his research materials and illustrations), so nothing lacks in MT. WASHINGTON except the author's ability to enjoy his finished product. The Mt. Washington Glass Works and the companies after it make up America's second-oldest glass manufacturer: the factory opened for business in the mid-1800s and spun off another business in silver plating. Glass collectors will find MT. WASHINGTON & PAIRPORT GLASS the definitive encyclopedia of the manufacturer's works: the volume has been long awaited by collectors and provides an extensive company history to compliment an in-depth coverage of its many products. Chapters come packed with black and white and color illustrations and photos, providing descriptions and color illustrations of all glasses and silver-plated wares and reviewing design, craftsmanship and unique attributes. Add indexes of patents and trademarks, glass decorators who operated in the region from 1867 to 1902, and illustrations of ads, production records and more and you have a truly outstanding reference.

We have waited a very long time for a comprehensive book on this beautiful American art glass and Betty Sisk has provided us with a treat for the eyes! The photos are beautiful in full color and plentiful. I did not know that such examples of this artform existed until feasting on this book. All collectors of art glass must add this to their libraries. The information with each type of glass is insightful and just enough to ready the reader for the pictures to follow. The insight provided is both scholarly and from a collector's perspective. Prices are given in a fair range to give a fair market value. And what pictures there are to enjoy! Many glass types are well covered for the first time. This book will set a very high standard by which all other references on this glass will be judged in the years to come. We indeed owe the author a debt due to this subject's neglect until now. This is a must buy! We have waited a long time to get this book-thanks Betty!!

This is the best book you can find on the subject of NAPCOS. It is not 100% complete, since so many thousand NAPCOS were issued since the mid 1900's; however, this book will give the collector a very nice basis on the subject.

Excellent photos. Printed on nice paper!

This is a fantastic book for the Napco collector. It offers beautiful pictures of some of the best figurines ever made. If you're a fan of Napco, this book is a must have!

This is by far the best book on Napco figurines and has MANY of the hard to find items fully photographed. I have been looking for a book to help me on my Storybook collectables for years and this one is a dream come true! Also has birthday angels and many, many more! So much information all photographed and in beautiful full color! Kathleen Deel knows her Napco collectables and now I will too! I highly recommend this book!

I got this book because I collect autographs, but I enjoyed reading the book for the short bio written about each player. It's easy to read all about the famous Negro Leaguers, but in this book you can learn a lot about some of the lesser known, but very good players. I think this book is great for both autograph and baseball history buffs.

This book was a delight to read and will be a great reference in the future. The authors did a thorough, scholarly research effort and it shows in the quality of the information in the book. Though the focus is on autographs, I felt the background on the players and other history was worth the price of the book alone. A must for autograph collectors and of great value to anyone interested in the Negro Leagues of American baseball history. Congrats to the authors on an outstanding job!

The book not only gives you a run down of the players career and their history but shares with the reader the variations in the signature that transpired from playing days to reunion times. Gives a scarcity report on the autograph besides the price range value. Superb reading!!

Comprehensive in reach/scope if not every detail, this book is an essential part of even a tiny research library for those interested in answering the questions of looks or specs on cars from the distant and recent past. Although listing only through 1990 models, more recent are rarely deemed potential collectibles, and so the relevance is largely unscathed by the decade plus since publication.

Styling and mechanical changes and specs for every model of every listed year (1930-1990) fit all but the most detailed needs. Whether used for perusing alternatives for the first/next purchase, checking production runs to assess rarity or looking at 13 year-old valuations, this book was and still is a gem.

If you have ever asked yourself questions like: What did the grille look like on a '50 Ford compared to a '51? or When did they bring our the E-type Jag? or What is a '56 Dodge LaFemme? or What the heck is a 1930 Ruxton?

If you have any interest in cars of the past, this book is a must-have! It features not just American-made cars but most European makes such as Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Ferrari, MG, Mercedes, etc. It has pictures of most and details of the model's history, engines, production, and prices in 1992 dollars (that's when the hardcover book was published). The prices are relevant, though, in that you car see how a particular car compared to another at that time.

I highly recommend this book as a source of automobilia history. Never have I seen a concentration of auto info in one publication. Remember, we'll never see them built like that again!

If you have ever asked yourself questions like: What did the grille look like on a '50 Ford compared to a '51? or When did they bring our the E-type Jag? or What is a '56 Dodge LaFemme? or What the heck is a 1930 Ruxton?

If you have any interest in cars of the past, this book is a must-have! It features not just American-made cars but most European makes such as Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Ferrari, MG, Mercedes, etc. It has pictures of most and details of the model's history, engines, production, and prices in 1992 dollars (that's when the hardcover book was published). The prices are relevant, though, in that you car see how a particular car compared to another at that time.

I highly recommend this book as a source of automobilia history. Never have I seen a concentration of auto info in one publication. Remember, we'll never see them built like that again!

My daughter spends hours cutting out the dolls and dresses. It enhances motoric skills as well. This activity could be also turned into great history fasion lesson.

Awesome! Simply awesome! The dresses are magnificent, the two dolls are pretty...one can hardly find a fault in this book!

A wonderful example of the various fashions that made their way in the wealthy wardrobes of America's leading women 100 years ago. Tom Tierney does it again. Only one thing I wish he would have included: a wedding gown! Otherwise flawless!

I checked this book out of the Cashiers, North Carolina Library and spent a week browsing it. It has many fascinating color plates of North Carolina's historical quilts. There is an early embroidered farm scene quilt that is particularly spectacular and worthy of reproduction. There are also many black and white vintage photos of North Carolina's quilters in period dress. I spent almost as much time looking at the vintage clothing photographs and the names of the women as I did the photos of the quilts. This is not a "how to quilt" book, but I think the photos and historical information in this volume would be beneficial to anyone interested in primary source research in vintage clothing and quilts of southern origin.

north carolina quilts have a distinctive character. you will see quilts unlike any others, many of them beautiful, all of them interesting. there is a good sized section devoted to chintz applique quilts (also known as broderie perse in other states) with several examples i have not seen in other quilts books. there are pieced quilts unlike most i have seen, and some appliqued and pieced and appliqued quilts that are simply stunning. an added bonus is the number of quilts post-1920 that are included. some of these quilts are stunningly quilted, and this can be seen clearly in most of the photos.

the photo quality of the quilts is good, with occasional detailed photos. there are also photos of many of the quilters who made these wonderful textiles, their families and their homes. there are exerpts from letters and diaries.

the text is very well written and well researched, and stays on the subject. the section dealing with north carolina's history is short and deals mainly with the stages of the textile industry.

any quilter, and especially any applique-er, looking for traditional or historical inspiration will find many singular or little known designs.

defnintely recommened.

This book has wonderful photographs of North Carolina quilts, terrific documentation of quilts and their makers, and good historical context.

The photos are great, but the stories of the quilters are really compelling. One touching story describes Rutha Ann Stiles, a lovely young woman who was born without hands. There is a photo of a very serviceable crazy quilt she made with her feet, for a favorite niece. On the quilt, she embroidered a hand. Her quilt is a monument to determination and love.

This book is filled with beautiful quilts and amazing stories. If you love antique quilts, you need this on your bookshelf.

Gone are the days of thoughtless coin purchases, and carefree days of yore. Today, the average Joe Numismatist faces a staggering array of crooks out to bilk him of his hard earned cash, by selling recently manufactured numismatic forgeries. Mr. Larson write very intelligently, with wit and humor! I found this book to be not only fun to read, but as much of a page turner as any I have ever read! Bravo sir! I will buy you a cup of coffee should you venture into my neck of the woods. I will guarantee any prospective reader that his book will inform, educate, enlighten and scare the pants off you. You will never look at a rare coin the same way again. Rated 8 stars.

A must read for anyone who buys coins: dealer or collector.
Very insightful and a much needed tool for the industry. There has been nothing quite like this. Nice back cover short reviews by Jim Halperin, Ken Bressett and Mark Salzberg. This book is major league.

Covers: Alteration (tooling, adding mint marks); Casting (centrifugal); False Dies (engraving tools, from electroplates, from casts, explosive impact); Collars; Planchets; Striking (hammering jigs and the 'gravity hammer'); and Wear/Patina.

Although written in the style of a "how-to" manual for replica and clandestine workshops, the book's target audience is collectors and authenticators. To employ Mr. Larson's techniques for crime you'd need to know the basics of precious metal casting, tool and die machining, gunsmithing, and numismatics. For readers without a metal lathe but with a serious interest in authentication and forgery-fighting, the book will provide an understanding of the covert minting process.

I was most impressed by Larson's treatment of the manufacture of steel dies through explosive impact copying. His procedure involves modifying shotguns to drive cast hubs into annealed dies. Larson's diagrams are explicit enough to convince the numismatist that explosive copying is practical. Details only of use to criminals, such as the type and quantity of gunpowder to use, are deliberately withheld from the reader.

Larson quotes an anonymous authenticator who examined 114 1916-S quarter eagles during the 1980s. 56% of them turned out to be fake! Hi-volume forgers in the Middle East and the Orient *already know* many of Larson's techniques. _Numismatic Forgery_ may provide a few useful tips to jewelers and machinists independently turning to crime, but the primary value of the book is to educate collectors in the characteristics of the illicit workshop.

This book, simply put, is an absolute neccessity for all coin collectors. With Kenneth Bresset editing the book and Q. David Bowers narrating it, the book has to be awesome. It has, among many other things, The basic ANA Grading techniques, Key to official ANA Grading Standards: Circulation Strike Coins; Key to official ANA Grading Standards: Proof Coins, Advanced Grading Techniques, A closer focus on certain aspects of grading and the official ANA grading standards for each coin type. From AG-3 to MS-70. It also has notes that warn you about different things to look for in certain types of coins. Buy this book, you definately will not be disappointed.

Easy to understand and use. Photos extremely helpful. Essential tool for novice and experienced collector alike.

EXCELLENT book for those trying to learn to grade there coins. I HIGHLY reccomend this item. Details every grade, and what characteristics it take for the coin to make the grade.