Customer Reviews

Signed Beauties Of Costume Jewelry: Identification & Values

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Before you sell Granny's costume jewelry at your garage sale for a couple of quarters, I'd suggest that you first check out this book. As is true in many collector books, the price guide is not in the back of this book. Instead, a price range is handily placed by each item's photograph, so no flipping to and from the back of the book is required.

The jewelry is sorted by maker, accompanied by a bit of history and general recognition characteristics. In case you forget the designer as you move through the book, the name is in a blue bar at the top of the page. You may not see the exact piece of jewelry you are trying to locate, but you will learn how to recognize a designer's general style.

The photography is do-it-yourself; Sparkles's husband, Kenneth A. Brown assisted in this department. Although a few of the photos are a bit out-of-focus, they are sufficiently clear to make out the main details.

The book is divided into general categories, such as: "designing men, designing women, disciples of Haskell, Hollywood stars, manufacturers, metalcraft, and unattributed pieces."

In order to determine the age of a piece, Sparkle tells us to look at the soldering, the catch, magazine advertisements and art or fashion trends of various periods. She gives us tips on care, restoration and storage of our costume jewelry. To my surprise, I learned that the value of a brooch that I bought at a thrift shop, just because I thought it looked pretty, is valued at about $90 (and I surely paid nowhere near that price). I'm certainly glad my brooch's consignor hadn't looked at this book. You might find that you've got a surprise treasure, too!

I am a novice dealer and avid collector of sparkly beauties and found this book extremely satisfying for my inner raccoon. The pictures are clear enough and the selection is varied enough to keep that urge to sneak into your Gramma's jewelry box alive. However, to call this coffee table book a reference guide would be to put it in a class beyond it's contents. I found a pictoral guide to maker's marks sorely lacking. Also understanding the author has a limited space, and did include some of the great costume houses like Trifari, where are the other Kings of Costume like Coro and Sarah Coventry? They made spectactular pieces too. My Gramma couldn't have afforded most of the stuff in this book in her time; I found the selection a bit high-end and the pricing guide inflated.

It shows many styles, many designers. It is the kind of book you use and reuse for information. Not all pieces in a parure/set are signed, leaving some pieces without the designer's mark. This was the case with some from my private collection. This book has been quite helpful in ascertaining a designer for such pieces. A great investment! Wonderful photos. A sufficient amount of information.

I thought this book was, as the author put it,"A Beautiful Book".
This is her second book on Costume Jewelry, and I can't wait for her next one. The background information was interesting and the pictures are wonderful. Great resource book.

This is a great book for someone just getting started in collecting. The photos are great. It is also very helpful in describing what the marks are so that you can determine who made the piece. It is a very thorough book.

This is a big book with hundreds of pages of illustrations covering a huge range of costume jewelry makers. The only reason I did not give this book a 5 star rating - the quality of the photos could have been better.
A good buy for the price.

I was not overly impressed with this book.It did have a list of a dozen or so of what I'd call "THE MASTERS",well know and VERY EXPENSIVE pieces,but none of the lesser ones that you find every day in farmer's markets,auctions,flea markets,yard sales,garage sales,etc.ie NO mention of Sarah Coventry,AJC,JJ,and some others.Okay maybe for a beginners book but mine has been used twice.I've had it for years!

This book is very informative as to the designers and some of their history and materials used in the making of their jewelry. The many photographs examplify the designers craftsmanship. Overall the book is a good reference of value for those dealing in vintage costume jewelry.

This book would make a cute coffee table book with it's many photos, but it is an entirely useless reference to collectors and dealers such as myself.
The book is broken into different designers/companies such as Trifari. A brief history is given for each, but all relevant information pertaining to their most notable and collectible styles, how value is determined, and what is most valuable, is missing. There is no information explaining how the author determines her values, just values for her presented pieces. There is little information on which styles or pieces to keep an especial eye out for (E.G. the highly collectible Trifari Jelly Belly Poodle) that are most valuable. And many styles and popular designers are not mentioned at all. Most annoying and unacceptable is the author does not depict the back of a single piece, or a photo of a single signature or stamp! I was shocked to find the signatures (which vary over time and play an important role in the value of a piece) are poorly described and not portrayed.
This book does not strike me as a professional resource - it strikes me as a collector showing off her personal collection and favorite pieces, and bragging about what she believes them to be worth. She sounds like a nitwit, and her values are a joke.

Lovely book, well illustrated and helpful to me in researching jewellery to buy and sell.