The bible book of buttons is back in an updated and revised sixth edition. This is the best introduction to the world of buttons that have ever been written. Over 3,000 buttons, covering all periods, materials, and manufacturers, are pictured and identified, along with newly revised current market values for each button. Although comprehensive in scope, the book is never intimidating. Its encyclopedic format enables information to be quickly and easily found. Current market values make it the best guide to the market. This is the one book that experienced collectors have long considered indispensable, that new collectors must have.

Concentrating on the explorer and naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820), this book explores the early history of collections at the British Museum. Taking Banks' extraordinary career as its basis, it examines the changes that took place during a period of transition that led to collecting on an increasingly global scale.

Communications between amateur radio (AKA ham radio) operators and citizen band stations have been crowding the world's electromagnetic spectrum since its invention in the early 20th century. Millions of operators formed what could be almost be described as an early internet - projecting their voices, ideas, and humanity around the earth's surface using various techniques and frequencies to bounce their waves around the earth's surface, off of the ionosphere, and even the moon. Any communication network needs a way of identifying individuals. A QSL card is a written confirmation of prior communication between two amateur radio or citizens band stations-postcard sized and mailed between users. Do You Confirm Receipt of My Transmission is derived from the Q code. A Q code message can stand for a statement or a question (when the code is followed by a question mark). In this case, 'QSL?' (note the question mark) means "Do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" while 'QSL' (without a question mark) means "I confirm receipt of your transmission." Just like today's internet avatars, operators had their own style and often projected their personality using their QSL cards. Collecting cards was popular, and a source of pride to operators. Published by Brooklyn-based design imprint, Standards Manual, Do You Confirm Receipt of My Transmission is a visual history of these cards, spanning from approximately 1960-1990. Over 190 cards are included, front and back, with high resolution details. The collection forms a visual history of early global communication - something we now take for granted but was once a marvel. Today, there are over 3 million licensed radio operators worldwide.

A fascinating record of how London and Londoners were shaped by nearly 700 years of public executions. More frequent in London than in any other city or town in Britain, these morbid spectacles often attracted tens of thousands of onlookers at locations across the capital and were a major part of Londoners' lives for centuries. From Smithfield to Kennington, Tyburn to Newgate Prison, public executions became embedded in London's landscape and people's lives. Even today, hints of this dark chapter in London's history can still be seen across the city. Featuring the lives and legacies of those who died or who witnessed public executions first hand from 1196 to 1868, this book tells the rarely told and often tragic human stories behind these events. It includes a range of fascinating objects, paintings and documents, many from the Museum of London's collections, such as the vest said to have been worn by King Charles I when he was executed, portraits of 'celebrity criminals', and last letters of the condemned. From the sites of execution to the thriving 'gallows' economy, the book reveals the role that Londoners played as both spectators and participants in this most public demonstration of state power over the life and death of its citizens.

Narrating Objects, Collecting Stories is a wide-ranging collection of essays exploring the stories that can be told by and about objects and those who choose to collect them. Examining objects and collecting in different historical, social and institutional contexts, an international, interdisciplinary group of authors consider the meanings and values with which objects are imputed and the processes and implications of collecting. This includes considering the entanglement of objects and collectors in webs of social relations, value and change, object biographies and the sometimes conflicting stories that things come to represent, and the strategies used to reconstruct and retell the narratives of objects. The book includes considerations of individual and groups of objects, such as domestic interiors, novelty tea-pots, Scottish stone monuments, African ironworking, a postcolonial painting and memorials to those killed on the roads in Australia. It also contains chapters dealing with particular collectors - including Charles Bell and Beatrix Potter - and representational techniques.

Collecting is a wide spread phenomenon within our society. Many of us are involved in the activity of collecting and many more of us are fascinated by others' collections. Yet surprisingly little is known about how and why we collect. On Collecting examines the nature of collecting both in Europe and among people living within the European tradition elsewhere.
Gathering objects together is a universal human custom, yet every society collects in different ways. Susan Pearce looks at the way we collect and what this tells us about ourselves and our society. She also explores the psychology of collecting: why do we bestow value on certain objects and how does this add meaning to our lives? Do men and women collect differently? How do we use objects to construct our identity?
On Collecting breaks new ground in its analysis of our relationship to the material world. It will be of value to museums professionals and students, cultural historians and anyone interested in the phenomenon of collecting.

In West and Central Africa,ceremonial masks are viewed as manifestations of the spirits, and the dramatic effect and visibility of masks is enhanced by use of vivid color. Accompanied by vivid color photographs of 266 masks, the largest representation of traditional polychrome masks from the Temne people of Sierra Leone and the Anang (Ibibio) people of Nigeria are documented here, as well as one of the largest published collections of articulated masks from the Ogoni people of Nigeria. Also illustrated is a wide range of traditional masks used by other peoples from West and Central Africa, including masks from the nations of Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola. Mask styles are discussed in relation to size, shape, materials, degree of abstraction, distinguishing characteristics, and context of usage. Other topics considered in this engaging presentation are the changing forms of masks in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the aesthetics of masks from the African perspective, and issues of "authenticity" as it relates to collecting African masks.

More than 500 color photos display marbles of all types in this informative, highly popular, revised guide. Most of these photos, over 400, are new to this edition and the text is entirely rewritten. Covered in this reliable guide that has stood the test of time are handmade and machine-made marbles of all types, including Indians, Aggies, Steelies, transitionals, M.F. Christensen & Son, Akro Agate, and more...every major category of marble is presented. Included among the handmade marbles are old marbles of glass, earthenware, minerals, and steel; machine-made marbles are identified by their manufacturers; and contemporary handmade glass marbles by artisans recapturing the old styles and creating exciting new styles all their own. Today's marble pricing is explained in detail. The author describes the four factors to look for when determining the value of a marble, and presents an accurate guide to the modern market. This book is a reliable source book for anyone with an interest in marbles.

Concentrating on the explorer and naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820), this book explores the early history of collections at the British Museum. Taking Banks' extraordinary career as its basis, it examines the changes that took place during a period of transition that led to collecting on an increasingly global scale.

"The Millionaire Legacy" focuses on the eight success strategies self-made millionaires use to acquire an abundance of wealth, peace, and contentment. People want to be happy and financially secure; The Millionaire Legacy will help them achieve both objectives by providing a proven framework that millionaires use to reach ultimate victory.

Extensive information and color photos present all the Hot Wheels die cast vehicles that Mattel, Inc. made from 1968 to 1999. Collecting Hot Wheels continues to grow as a popular hobby. In this revised and expanded edition, over 240 color pictures display nearly all of the Hot Wheels made up to 1999, with newly updated values. This book is an essential reference for collectors of all types of die-cast vehicles.

The Collector's Voice is a major four-volume project which brings together in accessible form material relevant to the history and practice of collecting in the European tradition from c. 1500 BC to the present day. The series demonstrates how attitudes to objects, the collecting of objects, and the shape of the museum institution have developed over the past 3000 years. Material presented includes translations of a wide range of original documents: letters, official reports, verse, fiction, travellers' accounts, catalogues and labels. Volume 1: Ancient Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Alexandra Bounia Volume 2: Early Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Kenneth Arnold Volume 3: Imperial Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Rosemary Flanders Volume 4: Contemporary Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Paul Martin