Customer Reviews

Baker's Encyclopedia of Hatpins and Hatpin Holders

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This superb book will interest the collector and historians alike. It is a great tribute to Lillian Baker, the queen of hatpin collectors. She passes on her tremendous knowledge and experience with the aid of a well catalogued album. This shows colour plates of many hatpins indexed by the different types of materials used. Gold, silver, brass, glass, porcelain, ivory and many other hatpins adorned with diamonds, pearls, amethysts, etc show what a diversity of collections are possible. They are catalogued by type, manufacturer, style or period over the past 150 years or so. A historical perspective on their development shows how they were made and the many types of legitimate fixings. Examples of fake hatpins are also shown. There is also a similar catalogue of a vast range of hatpin holders and vanity sets also in colour. The book is worth the money for the pictures alone and is what you would expect of the author who managed to persuade friends with rare and expensive or unusual hatpins and holders to allow them to be catalogued. There is even an explanation of the origins of pinmoney and the need for hatpin to be one word not two. The only disappointment is the lack of any indicator of values, as this was also the authors area of expertise. This book is unlikely to be repeated so buy it now - it will be a collectors piece soon.

This 200 page compendium complete with photographs, illustrations, history (including legal rulings and laws regarding the hat pin's use as a weapon), etc. is the hat pin fancier's bible.

This is a beautiful book with great photos but some of the things she writes about needs to be explained and they are not. Very hard to understand some of it if you are a beginner on hatpins like me.