Customer Reviews

Hattie Carnegie Jewelry: Her Life And Legacy

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The author of this book missed a great opportunity. This should have been a definitive history and a comprehensive illustrated survey of Hattie Carnegie's jewelry production. Instead, it's poorly written, scattershot and incomplete. Virtually none of Carnegie's fascinating and highly original 1940's designs (identifiable by the "HC" mark) are represented here. Almost all of the pictures are of 1950's and 1960's jewelry. The vast majority of pieces pictured in the book are ordinary and uninteresting - simple, plain and all-too-often trite goldtone designs of no particular distinction or style. Virtually none of Carnegie's most distinctive designs and spectacular jewels are illustrated in this volume. A serious author would have contacted dealers and collectors to obtain pictures of pieces that truly illustrate Carnegie jewelry's history, style and range. Much better Carnegie designs are pictured in GENERAL guides to collecting costume jewelry. To add insult to injury, what should have been a well-researched biography of Carnegie and narrative history of the company is instead a patchwork of miscellaneous tidbits strung together in a virtually incomprehensible style. Compared to the superlative books devoted to other jewelry designers (such as Miriam Haskell and Joseff), this book is a disgrace. A reader who knew nothing about Hattie Carnegie before reading this book would come away wondering why Carnegie was considered a great designer and fashion maven or why anyone would ever bother collecting her jewelry. If you are a serious collector of designer costume jewelry, you will be most likely be disappointed by this book. Who needs a Hattie Carnegie book that contains only a handful of her most inspired and creative designs buried among mountains of drek? It's truly a shame that the author wasted the opportunity to meaningfully document the career of such an important figure in the history of great American costume jewelry.

This author clearly loves Hattie Carnegie jewelry. The history is informative with some excellent research sources. The pictures are nice and give some idea of the style. I would have liked more detail on how the jewelry was constructed, the types of findings and a better idea of what was the true Carnegie style.

The pricing was not helpful. Ranges like $95.00-$225.00 and $225.00- $525.00 do not help determine the true value. A collector would not be able to value a collection with this book.

The pictures mix less and more expensive items all together and does not explain what key characteristics to look for to justify the higher price. I am not sure what to look for to distinguish the better pieces from the lesser. I have about 40 Carnegie pieces in my own collection and not one of them is shown in the book so it leads me to think that there are a lot more pieces out there that are not pictured so this is by no means a definitive representation of this designers jewelry.

This book is not for the beginning collector because it is too general and it really is not a book you will refer to over and over because it needs more detail.

Until I read this book I had never collected any costume jewelry or even particularly liked it. I bought it because a friend wrote it. However, I have spent hours poring over the gorgeous color photographs and from now on will be alert for the Hattie Carnegie markings when I go to flea markets and antique shows. The book is not only a catalog of the more collectible Hattie Carnegie's pieces including estimated values, but also a well written entertaining biography of Hattie Carnegie. For a collector it must be a treasure.