Since its introduction to the American market in 1949, the distinctive blue and white dinnerware depicting Currier & Ives scenes has remained one of the Royal China Company's most popular lines. An essential resource for all levels of collectors, this is the first full color reference book to document the Currier & Ives dinnerware and its richly nostalgic American scenes. Each of the nearly 150 photos includes details of the shape and the size of the piece, describes the scene, and provides a value. History is also provided about Currier & Ives-the source of this dinnerware's decorative art-and about the Royal China Company. While the most popular color is blue, Currier & Ives dinnerware can also be found in other colors; this guide covers all details the connoisseur needs to know.

Fashion dolls flaunted the best in clothing designs, and this book explores the flashiest era. Barbie*r, Chrissy, and Dawn-size dolls were outfitted with colorful haute couture creations hot off the runways of Paris, from the last vestiges of the "mod" scene to the early '80s "new wave" gear. Toy manufacturers mimicked the day's top dseigners to create outrageous, fun outfits. Shown in pristine condition, in unopened original packaging, this book is a gem for collectors and designers alike. More than 400 outfits are shown, many for the first time in any book. Each is stunningly photographed, and includes current market values for collectors.

Displayed in 900 beautiful color images are the Fenton Art Glass special order items produced from 1980 to today, ranging from baskets and chop plates to rose bowls and vases. These dazzling, much-coveted items were made-to-order for various companies, collectors' clubs, and individual customers. The company orders from Aladdin (TM), Anheuser-Busch (TM), Lenox (TM), and QVC (TM) are featured. The text includes brief histories of the ordering companies, clubs, and individuals, Fenton logos used, a glossary of terms, a detailed bibliography, and values in the captions. For those who seek Fenton's popular glass, this book is an essential reference.

A look at traditional Pueblo dance, illustrated with striking black and white photographs of dancers in traditional dress from the Pueblos of San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, San Juan, Jemez, Taos, Pecos, Acoma, and Tesuque. Nancy Hunter Warren took these sensitive images before the Pueblos created a ban on taking photographs of their ceremonies. Among the dances portrayed are Commanche, Deer, Buffalo and One-Horned Buffalo, Ram, Corn, and Matachine. The text is an in-depth explanation of Pueblo dancing, including discussions of the experiential, symbolic, and cyclical nature of Pueblo dances. Also explored are the continuity across the ages of Pueblo dances, changes over time, and the meaning of these powerful expressions. A rare look at Pueblo customs in New Mexico, this book will be a treasured resource for all who are fascinated with Native American history and customs.

This new and improved edition is an essential and invaluable resource for every glass enthusiast, collector, researcher, and historian. It contains over 4,200 alphabetized definitions of glassware, colors, processes, materials, forms, decorative styles, pattern motifs, noted artisans, companies, and designers, from antiquity to the present. The glass world now has an necessary resource that remains up-to-date and unique in its field. This clear, concise, and easily readable guide includes both highly technical jargon and common terminology. The thorough use of cross-referencing between related subjects provides an extensive overview of specific glass-related topics.

The volume gathers together seventeen articles dedicated to the monetary history of medieval Italy, most of them newly translated into English. The articles in the first section of the volume trace the development of monetisation in Italy from the Lombard period until the rise of the communes, taking Rome, Lazio, Tuscany, and several cities and regions in north-central Italy as case studies. The articles in the second section analyse different aspects of monetary production and circulation in Byzantine Italy, while the third gathers together studies on various aspects of Carolingian coinage: the transition from the Lombard system and the problem of furnishing an adequate supply of silver; mints and royal administration; and the activity and inactivity of mints operating at the edges of the Regnum Italiae. All of the articles share the author's characteristic concern with setting the evidence from written sources against the wealth of new data emerging from recent archaeological research.

Three classic books on Louis C. Tiffany's brilliant Art Nouveau works are combined here in one volume. Louis C. Tiffany Rebel in Glass, Louis C. Tiffany's Glass- Bronzes-Lamps, and Louis C. Tiffany's Art Glass by Robert Koch, the foremost scholar in the field, informed and delighted a generation of art lovers before they went out of print and became hard to find. This combined edition brings the innovative career of one of America's most original artists to a new generation of collectors. It retains all of the original text and photographs of the former editions and has many additional color photographs of Tiffany's most treasured designs from some of finest museum collections in America. Here are the glass windows, lamps, and vases from the flamboyant 1880s to 1920s era that made Louis C. Tiffany famous. Tiffany's bronze desk sets, paintings, ceramics, mosaic tiles, room interiors, lighting devices, decorative glass, and jewelry are all prominently featured. Every art student, museum professional, historian, antique dealer, and art collector will be dazzled by the variety and exquisite craftsmanship displayed here. The book is a treasure itself.

First introduced in 1971, Ziggy (R) has become one of our favorite comic characters and now appears in almost six hundred newspapers. This endearing little guy with a bald head and a big heart created by cartoonist Tom Wilson has a way of brightening up everyone's day. Along with his pals--Fuzz the dog, Sid the cat, Josh the parrot, Wack the duck, and Goldie the fish--Ziggy's memorable features can be found on mugs, glasses, figurines, plates, linens, books, stickers, and much more. With over 330 color photos, this delightful book illustrates and describes Ziggy collectibles from the 1970s to the mid 1990s. Ziggy fans will enjoy this great guide to the extensive range of items they can find. Values provided for all items shown.

Reflecting the trends of wartime, with an emphasis on the ever-changing roles of women in society, this book illustrates the movement towards more masculine styles and patriotic fashions and colors, while still representing the tailored and restrictive styles that had once dominated the lady's closet. Government rationing and limitations on everyday fabrics and textiles resulted in fashionable new creations. This book, drawn from the pages of the Sears-Roebuck catalogs, has over 400 images with thousands of items of clothing pictured. It gives the reader an insightful look at the fashions perspectives of the mid-1940s.

This is the first collectibles book that provides images and information about a wide range of elephant collectibles. This compendium has over 900 color images in over 130 categories including: Figurines, Incense Burners, Ashtray, Bookends, Lighters and Paintings. Written by a self-described obsessed elephant collector, virtually every major manufacturer and artist, past and recent, has one or more representative pieces here, including: Aronson, Bayre, Bratsoff, Goebel, Lladro, Loetz, Meissen, Nast, Neiman, Passman, Ronson, Royal Doulton, Royal Haeger, Shawnee, Swarovski, Vanderveen, Wedgewood, and many, many more. In addition, relatively unknown works and one-of-a kind elephants are presented. The breadth is amazing! For elephant collectors this is a book like no other, beautifully illustrated and comprehensive enough to satisfy the most avid pachyderm lover.

This pioneer work presents the rich and diverse decorative arts produced by the distinctive Mennonite communities in Europe, Pennsylvania, and Canada over a 300-year period. In his scholarly text, Clarke Hess identifies a host of newly recognized Mennonite artisans of traditional textiles and quilts, furniture, clocks, wooden boxes and carvings, metals, pottery, and fraktur. Derived from private collections throughout the United States and Canada, these colorful folk items of Mennonite families are all carefully identified and displayed in hundreds of color images. Designers, folk art collectors, dealers, and historians will covet this beautiful and fascinating book.

Over 2100 vibrant photos and lively text present an exciting array of wine memorabilia. Following a look at wine and health, with a toast to readers and a look at Bacchanalia, the book takes a four part journey from the vineyard to the wine cellar. Part one looks at various tools used in growing grapes, harvesting, and the production of wine. Tools used by coopers in barrel making, wine sampling and tasting devices, and bottling tools are covered. The next step is "Drinking Wine," in which many implements for removing corks, retrieving corks, and preserving wine are revealed. Serving devices include an extraordinary batch of cradles and caddies. In part three, promotional items revealed include statues, games, fans, tokens, signs, and office accessories. The last part is a look at a fabulous collection of wine antiques from a museum in Spain. The final step is into an 1810 wine cellar with a list of "The Necessaries always wanted in Wine and Spirit Vaults, and Gentlemens Cellars."

This handbook provides hundreds of clear color photographs and fascinating stories which reveal volumes about each fragrance, far beyond the size of the bottles. These miniature bottles are popular collectibles today and this useful book contains information to satisfy the most discriminating taste. Fragrance names, their creators, launch dates, bottle and package designs and dimensions are all here, as well as a price guide in the captions to reflect today's fragrance market.

Here is a wonderful resource for dollhouse collectors seeking to identify and date items in their collections. Shown in over 400 photographs are advertisements from catalogs, magazines, and trade journals picturing dollhouses, dollhouse furniture, and accessories. The ads provide a comprehensive pictorial history of mostly American dollhouses dating from the 1880s to the 1980s. Shown are products from many famous dollhouse companies, including N.D. Cass, Arcade, Meccano, Lines Brothers, Schoenhut, Strombecker, Wisconsin Toy, Rich Toys, Keystone, Converse, Tynietoy, Renwal, Marx, Plasco, Ideal, Playsteel, Built-Rite, Nancy Forbes, Tootsietoy, and many other well-known firms. Of special interest are ads from companies not recognized in previous dollhouse books, including Cranford, Elastic Tip, Playroom Equipment, Toy Gro Educational Toys, Playskool Institute, Vista, Melco Toys, and many more. A special chapter illustrating magazine and newspaper plans for building dollhouses is included to help with the identification of handmade houses and furnishings. This unique book will help new and old collectors alike research their beloved dollhouses and dollhouse furniture.

Timeless in their appeal, pinball games have entertained and tested the skills of players worldwide for many generations. Pinballs combine the unpredictability of a rolling, bouncing silver ball with some of the most amazing commercial artwork and the most up-to-date technological advancements. Here is a book that celebrates what is known to many enthusiasts as "the lure of the silverball." Fifty diverse pinballs, both vintage and contemporary, are showcased. Each has its own chapter outlining the game\s special features, historical background, game trivia, game rules, graphic images, collectibility, and current value. Over 500 amazing full color photographs give the reader a complete visual of each game. Whole machine shots, close-ups of backglasses and playfields, and ball\s-eye-view images all put enthusiasts right into the action. This outstanding book will be thoroughly enjoyed by pinball collectors, historians, graphic artists, and devotees of coin operated amusement games.

Take a nostalgic, scenic journey through the San Diego of days gone by. 226 vintage postcards show the city as it appeared decades, and even a century, ago. From crisp Marine formations at Fort Rosecrans to casual strolls through Balboa Park, you'll see San Diego's history unfold. Dozens of images celebrate San Diego's red-carpet welcome for the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition. Romantic views portray Casa de Estudillo, where novelist Helen Hunt Jackson's heroine Ramona captured the nation's heart. Dodge trolleys and horses on D Street, ogle the glorious U.S. Grant Hotel, explore famous beaches and resort areas, and take in the panorama from Mission Cliff when it was an idyllic garden. These wonderful images illustrate sites that lured so many people to San Diego in the early to mid twentieth century.

Today, attitudes about costume jewelry include respect and enjoyment from the growing number of collectors who search for pieces made by important designers from the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Today's teenagers are wearing vintage Hippie and Mod jewelry. Prices are escalating. Over 615 color photographs and 60 advertising pieces are presented to display the variety in these popular adornments. Fashion and political trends are explained to show that they were reflected in the jewelry designs.

This brilliantly assembled book explores the creative media that master designer Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) and his Tiffany Studios in New York pioneered, coupled with related masterpieces that contemporary artists have made. Nine chapters present Tiffany's original paintings and fine arts, stained glass windows and lampshades, mosaics, favrile glass objects, metalwork, enamels, and jewelry. Each method is explained and superlative examples are shown in 560 color photographs. Related artworks, by 17 contemporary artists, establish how L.C. Tiffany has influenced living artists. All the artworks were inspired by natural flowers and plant material in Art Nouveau aesthetics. This beautiful reference is a tool for designers, Tiffany collectors, and everyone who aspires to create their own masterpieces.

The sleek lines of Danish Modern furniture took the design world by storm in the mid-twentieth century. Among the American companies that manufactured this style of furniture was the Heywood-Wakefield Co., based in Gardner, Massachusetts. Known widely today for their lines of blonde furniture, Heywood-Wakefield addressed the American family's desire for an informal yet sophisticated look through its Danish Modern and related lines produced in the 1950s and 1960s. Here are original Heywood-Wakefield catalog images of Danish inspired living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture, featuring original catalog descriptions, model numbers, and measurements for all pieces. A price guide showing current market values is included. Collectors, designers, and aficionados of vintage furniture will welcome this timeless presentation.

From fun and funky to excitingly exotic, popular purses of the mid-20th century have a fashion appeal all their own. More than simply functional, these bags feature bold, often whimsical stylings. They say notice me-and buyers continue to do just that! Crocodile and carved Lucite, and elegant beaded evening bags are here, as are bags by Enid Collins, all enticingly displayed in over 400 color photos and vintage ads. The bright, breezy, and informative text pays tribute to fashion at its flirtiest, while the current price guide will have collectors reaching for their pocketbooks!

This monumental, two volume set, several years in preparation, includes over 400 color photographs, illustrations and period images from the finest collections in the United States and Europe. For the first time, collectors will see a comprehensive full color photographic lexicon picturing helmets from every unit of the Imperial German Army of 1914. Many of the photographs exhibit helmets of such rarity that they have never been seen outside a select group of advanced collectors. Carefully selected, each photograph and illustration affords the reader information not to be found elsewhere. Presented in a clear and easy to understand format, the detailed text covers evolution of the Pickelhaube from 1842 until 1918, helmet nomenclature, front plates of the Active, Reserve and Landwehr regiments, and identification tables for officer and other ranks helmets. Without a doubt, these are the most extensive and comprehensive books on this subject ever published in English. The information presented here will make this book essential for the novice and advanced collector, military historian and restorer.

Breweries all over America have used character figurines and small shelf signs as highly effective point-of-purchase advertising to promote their brands of beer. Most commonly used from the end of Prohibition to the late 1960s, these now highly collectible items were generally made of plaster or chalk and are often referred to as statues. A wonderful array of such back bar advertising items is showcased here, including some of the rarest statues known. The description for each item includes the height, material(s) of construction, dates of use, and current value. Rare statues are identified. Also provided is a history of point-of-purchase advertising as related to the brewing industry, a review of the manufacturing process and the major manufacturers, plus valuable information on grading, pricing, repairing, reproductions, and more. This colorful and comprehensive book will serve as the reference of choice for all beer statue collectors and breweriana buffs.

Amid the turmoil of the 1960s, the 1964-65 NY World's Fair was a welcomed break that gave a glimpse into the upcoming high-tech age. It was here that visitors would see such things as touch tone phones, picturephones, animatronics & computers for the first time. During the Fair's 2-year run, thousands of souvenirs were sold, and free brochures and pins were given to fairgoers. Today, these items are highly sought after by collectors and those who want to relive their days at the fair. Over 600 color photos along with a price guide illustrate the huge array of collectibles from this fair. Shown also are rare items used in the everyday operations by the employees who worked there.

Four of the world's most beloved storybook characters are the focus of this delightful new book. A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, Johnny Gruelle's Raggedy Ann Stories, Florence K. Upton's Golliwogg's Adventures, and Seymour Eaton's Adventures of the Roosevelt Bears have inspired related books, art works, beloved stuffed toys, licensed products and interpretations for several generations--highlighted here in this delightful collectors' guide. Each of these famous four storybook characters has an individual history which is charmingly related after extensive research by author Dee Hockenberry. The other books in each of their series, major playmates of the principal characters, dolls inspired by the characters, and modern products based on the characters all are featured in this interesting presentation. Over 600 color photographs show the tremendous variety of material that can be found relating to these characters. The useful price guide provides current market value. Readers will be enchanted by these stories and their far-reaching influence world-wide.