Customer Reviews

Marbles Illustrated (Schiffer Military History)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has fabulous marble illustrations, but absolutely no cross-referencing so a user can look up the description of the marble pictured. The author pre-supposes you are an expert and know what marble maker and type you are looking for. Illustrations are grouped together in one section of the book and each is identified only by the auction number and lot number it came from. Unfortunately, the descriptions of these marbles are not in the same order. Descriptions are ordered by marble manufacturer and type of marble. Even then, the auction numbers within the types are random. The book is only useful if you know what kind of marble you have and want to see what some similar marbles by the same manufacturer sold for. It bogles the imagination to understand why any sensible editor would not cross index this publication, so a person finding a marble they like in the illustrations, can then go read the description. It could take you a week to find the matching description. The sad thing is, that data was readily available to the author and the illustrations could have been keyed in a day! Worst example of editorship I have ever seen! Totally clueless! They never thought about, or cared, how a person might try to use the book. Save your money! I wish I had!

Book is totally disorganized. Beautiful pictures, but no way of researching values. The price list is in the back organized by lot no & auction no. NO reference to the illustration of the marbles in the front of the book, no way to look it up. Starts out promising, then becomes a total jumble. Totally impossible to locate anything. Too time consuming, and then still no resolve.

If you like marbles (And who doesn't?) or more importantly if you collect marbles; big or little collections, it does not matter, then this is most certainly a book you want to add to your research library. Now I will tell you truthfully...not one book, or at least any that I know of, can be classified as the "ultimate only book you will ever need" marble identification book. There are just too many marbles in the world and variations of those marbles for any one book to be able to cover them all. should also be noted that even with a fine book such as we have here that marble identification can be and is extremely difficult at times. It takes work and takes a lot of research. There simply are no "free lunches" when it comes to identifying these things.
But all that being said, this is a wonderful book for those interested in such matters. The photographs in this work are some of the best I have seen and trust me, when it comes to identification, photographs; really good quality photographs, are an absolute must! This work provides them with over 580 beautifully clear and detailed plates.

Examples of contemporary marbles, hand made, machine made, old and new are all represented here. The text is quite readable and informative, enhancing and working well with the photographs.

I feel that this is a good work as it makes a wonderful foundation for further research. You can at least easily identify the category of marbles you are looking for and armed with that information you can then further your research into what every specially marble you are dealing with. There are a lot of books out there that narrow this process down, i.e. those devoted on one type and one type only whether it be antique, contemporary, hand or machine made.

On the down side...and yes, there is a down side to ever guide such as this I have ever read, is that this particular work is perhaps more suited for the advanced collector, someone who knows there way in the world of marbles. The second downer is that, and again, I tell you the truth...I have seen books of the nature that were a bit more organized...it can be quite confussing for the new user and quite time consumming as a research tool.

As to the price guide: This is good information but as with all books that deal in pricing any antique or collectable, the price stated by the author is rather transitory as prices chance over time and geographical location. Don't get me wrong...this is not bad information the author is providing...no, no, not at all, but just don't get into the mind-set that the prices here are written in stone.

Use this work and others. Collecting marbles is a fascinating hobby. One of the fascinations is that it can be rather difficult at times...if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I was extremely satisfied with the purchase process and condition of the item. It arrived on schedule and in better condition than I expected.