No comments about Collecting American decorative arts and sculpture, 1971-1991.

1 comments about Twentieth Century Fashionable Plastic Jewelry.

1. I refer to this work regularly! Well detailed pictures with excellent research and background information. My only complaint is that the prices could use some updating - they are somewhat low on the better pieces. On second thought - keep the prices low! This book will assist you in identifying your plastic jewellery treasures, and will give you a thorough background into the origins and designs of vintage to contemporary plastic jewellery. For the next addition, would like to see a quick reference guide on quick identification of different varieties of commonly encountered plastics. Ms. Baker does not include references to common tests for bakelite, lucite etc... which would prove extremely useful. Overall, a book that will remain off my shelves and in constant use for years to come. Look forward to the next edition!

1 comments about House of Collectibles Price Guide to Star Wars Collectibles: 4th edition (Official Price Guide to Star Wars Collectibles).

1. It is a great book but this is 2000 and it was released in 1998. Since then there has been a great number of additions to the Star Wars Collectibles universe and the problem with this book along with any other book / price guide is usually as soon as you get it the prices have changed and numerous items have been released. For referance it is a good book just dated.

No comments about Batmania.

No comments about Provenance: Twelve Collectors of Ethnographic Art in England, 1760-1990.

No comments about Fenton Burmese Glass (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

No comments about Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Carvings in North American Collections.

5 comments about Tomart's Price Guide to Hot Wheels Collectibles.

1. Honestly the latest edition is just a tired rehash of the last one. No effort to clean up errors, just seemed to be rolling the same information over and smacking it with the lastest edition number on it. The pages fall out of every edition I have owned. If you are a Redline enthusiast, there's a new game in town. The Ultimate Redline guide by Jack Clark and Robert Wicker is it! It's a hardback, has really neat history of the cars. Beautiful pictures, and lists all variations.

   I like a little more substance than what the Strauss book has offered lately. Hopefully Clark and Wicker will release more books soon and put this guide out of it's misery!




2. This book purports to be a guide to all of the hot wheels cars produced for the last thirty plus years. It's very up-to-date, and well written and thought out. It has lists of all of the cars, with the early ones priced by color so you can keep track of which ones are more or less expensive. The colors in the color guide don't look that good to me, and since there are so many shades, I didn't find it that valuable, but the price guides are very good. They aren't completely up to date in and of themselves (how could they be?) but they're as good as they can get, and you can use them to judge how much one color will cost as opposed to another.



3. I have an interest in older Hot Wheels, and was looking for values and prices. This is the only book that differentiates between the various colors of the early cars, and those colors make all the difference in value. As a result this book is almost indispensable. The color guide itself is only so-so, being particularly difficult to match up with some of the brighter colors. There were so many shades that sometimes the guide is only so-so too. But since this is the only book that even bothers to attempt to divide the cars by color, this is the one to get.



4. This book is loaded with valuable information. Lots of pictures & needed specs, but as in previous editions, the incomplete index leaves much to be desired, and the pricing is out of this world. However, that said, it is a great addition to a collectors library.



5. As others have said before me....the guide is a rehash of previously error filled versions. I have collected since 1994 and would only use this book to identify what the car looked like and possibly the year it was manufactured. Strauss promotes his own limited editions with high prices over more valuable limited editions. Accuracy is not one of the attributes of this book.

2 comments about French Interior - 18th. Century, the (Decorative Arts & Collecting).

1. This book is somewhat misleading in it's title. In many ways "nick knaks of the french interior" might be more accurate. This book has some discussion of French aestetics, and some overall views of interiors, but concentrates on individual items such as furniture, porcelain, clientele and furnishing textiles.

   The book has some lovely photographs, but if you are looking for a book full of wonderful photographs of 18th century French aristocratic interiors, then this book is probably not for you. Most of the photos are of the smaller items like nick knaks that make the "feeling" of French interior design.

   For an overview of the great interior artists of the bits and pieces that make up french interior design this is good, but it's certinally not a comprehensive guide and in many ways is a dissapointing book.




2. This is an excellent resource book for Artists to research the decorative arts.It has influenced my art techniques tremendously . Fabulous color plates with good detail .Highly recommend this book.

No comments about Patriotic Taste: Collecting Modern Art in Pre-Revolutionary Paris.