Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain, 1850 to the Present (Hardcover)

by Ralph Kovel (Author), Terry Kovel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"As millions already know, any book carrying the Kovel byline will be as reliable, informative, and fact-filled as any collector could wish."
--American Country Collectibles

"What the Kovels don't know about antiques isn't worth knowing."
--House Beautiful

"The Kovels are arguably the authorities on antiques and collectibles in this country."
--Los Angeles Times -- Review

Review
"As millions already know, any book carrying the Kovel byline will be as reliable, informative, and fact-filled as any collector could wish."
--American Country Collectibles

"What the Kovels don't know about antiques isn't worth knowing."
--House Beautiful

"The Kovels are arguably the authorities on antiques and collectibles in this country."
--Los Angeles Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Crown Publishers; 1st edition (December 13, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517559145
• ISBN-13: 978-0517559147
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,493 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #2 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Porcelain & China
  #5 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Pottery & Ceramics
  #19 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Reference

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

133 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Many marks dated incorrectly in Kovels' mark book!, July 23, 1999

By	Restaurant-china (San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

While the layout, date code information, and index are very well done, many marks are dated incorrectly.... some off by decades. This is very misleading and frustrating. Due to the Kovels' apparent vast experience, collectors and dealers tend to believe whatever they write... right or wrong! As an author and china mark historian, I hope the Kovels remove any unverified mark usage dates in a future edition. To list a few examples, they say mark 195L is semiporcelain, 1886-1898. The correct information according to the manufacturer (now Syracuse China, then Onondaga Pottery) is vitrified china 1897-1946. Also they indicate mark 127J is a current mark, but this backstamp was actually used 1930s - early 1950s. Then there is mark 105N listed as faience 1891+, which should be porcelain 1959-1969 according to the company. Other knowledgeable and observant collectors and dealers have noticed similar discrepancies.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Use It Constantly!, March 6, 2002

By	Miss Marple (PA United States) - See all my reviews

This is the book I refer to first when I get a new piece of porcelain. 90% of the time I find the mark in this book. U.S. Marks are not as well represented, however I do get some good information about the marks I do find.

I like the way the book is organized. You can look in the index if you know a name. This leads you to locations in the book where this name is listed. Or you can search by the shape, design, or letters used in the mark.

I am a beginner and I still found this book to be very helpful in my research.

My only request for an updated version is to include more U.S. Marks. The U.S. Pottery and Porcelain markets are getting very hot and it would be helpful to be able to quickly identify them.

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy extension of the first Kovels pottery book., June 20, 2001

By	William L. Gilstrap (Vidor, Tx USA) - See all my reviews

The authors of this book have been writing it for almost 50 years. It is not a replacement for their "Kovels' Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain", which was first published in 1953 and is still in print. This book is an addition to the first book, having about 10% of the marks shown in the first book because of new information or for completeness. The other marks are newer and not shown in the old book. There are two sections of marks, the first section is marks that look like objects and the second is alphabetical by initials and words. There is also a section called: "Some Additional Information". It has a glossary of terms, dating systems, foreign words commonly used in the marks, fakes and forgeries, a list of "Selected Reading", and an index. This book alone is not enough for accomplished collectors, but is excellent for beginners and used in combination with the first book (as the authors apparently intended) will cover a large percentage of the "Pottery and Porcelain" marks.