Costume Jewelry: Identification and Price Guide (Confident Collector) [Mass Market Paperback]

Harrice Simons Miller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Confident Collector | Publication Date: January 1994

Popularized by Coco Chanel in Paris during the 1920s, costume jewelry -- from the inexpensive to the extravagant -- has come into its own, creating a skyrocketing market for both investors and collectors. This guide covers it all, from Coro, Eisenberg, and Trifari to Miriam Haskell and Joseff. Complete with the latest prices, descriptions, and fascinating histories of the most famous manufacturers, it provides new and essential information for every collector:

• Listings for every major designer
• The most current prices available
• Detailed descriptions and photos for easy identification
• Tips on buying and selling
• How to spot fakes and forgeries
• Detailed bibliography
• Predictions about hot trends of the future

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books; 2 edition (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380770784
• ISBN-13: 978-0380770786
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #836,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth buying!, December 3, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Costume Jewelry: Identification and Price Guide (Confident Collector) (Mass Market Paperback)

Quite a good reference book on costume jewelry! It is divided into chapters by eras, i.e. - 20's, 30's, etc.... Not only does this book show jewelry and give prices, but it also gives info on what was going on in the jewelry industry during that era, which gives you help in identifying the age of pieces not found in the book. The pictures are mostly in B&W, but are very crisp and well photographed. The few color pictures are stunning. One note of caution to newbies - many of the book values in here are quite high - do not expect to get anywhere near that amount when you sell a piece, unless you sell in a very large city, and even then expect to "discount" a little. In all, however, this book has a ton of info and resources (even a dealer's directory!), and is well worth buying.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for Serious Collectors, February 17, 2001

By 

Rebecca R. Hadley "Rebecca R. Hadley" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Costume Jewelry: Identification and Price Guide (Confident Collector) (Mass Market Paperback)

I sell vintage costume jewelry for a living so, as you can probably imagine, I have a lot of books on the subject. This is definitely one of the best. It's filled with fantastic background information on the making of costume jewelry, the top name designers and popular styles. The photos (b&w and color) provide good illustrations and are often of rarer, less-frequently-seen styles. I also like the fact that it's a smaller paperback book (as opposed to a large format hardcover). It's easier to take to antique/jewelry shows and thumb through when necesary.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A great info reference, but not my favorite, March 14, 2002

By 

Rebecca M. Makas "vitaminrm2" (West Hartford, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Costume Jewelry: Identification and Price Guide (Confident Collector) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book has wonderful information about different styles of costume jewelry, history, and manufacturing. For me however, I found that there were not enough photos, and the photos that were included, because they are black and white and because of the type of paper the book is printed on, are just not clear enough.

One of the reasons I bought a number of books on this subject was to help me recognize the pieces when I saw them. Because the photos are not clear it was harder for me to put my new found knowledge to practice in the real world, because I wasn't quite sure if what I was seeing was the same as what was in the book.