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.

Moneta traces ancient Rome’s unstoppable rise, from a few huts on an Italian hilltop to an all-conquering empire spanning three continents, through the fascinating lives of twelve remarkable coins. In these handcrafted pieces of ancient art we witness Caesar's bloody assassination, follow the legions to the edge of the known world, take a seat in the packed Colosseum, and ultimately, watch as barbarian armies mass at the gates.

The Romans saw coins as far more than just money – these were metal canvases on which they immortalised their sacred gods, mighty emperors, towering monuments, and brutal battles of conquest. Revealed in those intricate designs struck in gold, silver, and bronze was the epic history of the Roman world.

Hold the glory and the infamy of ancient Rome in the palm of your hand.

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.

Whistles: every child's favorite noise-maker, every police officer's most trusted alarm, every girl or boy scout's most treasured souvenir. With almost 500 full-color photographs, this cheerful new book catalogs whistles from the past century, from the simple wooden penny whistle to novelty whistles with built-in compasses, 15-jewel watches, and mink fur decoration. There are many examples of tin whistles decorated with lithographs, plastic whistles made of celluloid, vinyl, and other compounds, and even a reproduction of a clay whistle made in the 1400s! While whistles could be as frivolous as the water-filled `warbling bird' variety, sliding whistles, and kiddie whistles with 1950s TV cowboy logos, there are many more serious whistles shown as well, including a Kentucky coal mine whistle(used to check for toxic gases), a New York City taxi-cab whistle, and a plastic version of traditional African "nose-flute" used in mating rituals. This book covers them all, with discussion of when and how they were made, instructions for taking care of them, and a current price guide.

Collectors will cherish this full-color exploration of the tobacco tin. Over 1000 tobacco tins are illustrated in full color, revealing the designer's and the lithographer's art. The tobacco industry in America was at the forefront of modern advertising and among the first to try to instill brand identification and loyalty in their customers. Consequently many of these tins are eye catching and beautiful. This is one of the reasons they are such popular collectibles. This book is the first full color reference on tobacco tins, featuring clear photography and the highest quality reproduction. In addition, it contains advertising and other ephemera which help to give an overview of the industry's attempts to reach its customers. The size of the tin is given, as is the manufacturer when known. An up-to-date price guide is included.

All entries new for each edition. Miller's Collectables Handbook & Price Guide 2021-2022 is the up-to-date guide to the collectables market no dealer, collector or auctioneer should be without. Featuring more than 4,000 objects in full colour, each with a detailed description and price range, the book also shows you how to spot that rare example that may be worth twenty times more than another piece. In-depth features explain why one piece is worth more than another, show how to value an item and teach you to be your own expert when appraising everything from 20th-century glass to costume jewellery. Comprehensive sections cover a wide range of objects, with additional pages on pencils, toys, vintage handbags, trunks and costume jewellery for this edition. Every entry and image is updated for each edition to keep the book up-to-date with collecting and buying trends. Miller's Collectables Handbook & Price Guide 2021-2022 is the only full-colour, fully-illustrated collectables price guide in the world.

This new volume focuses on nodder salt and pepper shakers with over 300 nodders as well as hundreds of early/discontinued Fitz and Floyd sets and Parkcraft sets, many of which have never before been shown in a book. All are shown in clear color photographs. This comprehensive guide includes for each set its identification, color, size, and design variations. A price guide is provided.

In the 1920s and '30s Art Deco influenced everything from art and architecture, interiors and furnishings, automobiles and boats, to the small personal objects that are part of everyday life. The items in this thematically structured book demonstrate Deco style at its most alluring. They were then the height of fashion, and are highly prized collectibles today. They demonstrate an era of close cooperation between designers and manufacturers, who aimed to produce goods that were not only fit for purpose, but also well made and beautiful. This informative showcase of portable classics of avant-garde modern design from Britain, Europe (particularly France) and the United States will appeal both to collectors and to anyone with an interest in Deco style and the history of fashion, taste and design. It is the first book to bring together the small collectibles - from cigarette cases and lighters to powder compacts and cosmetics accessories, watches, jewelry, even cameras - that demonstrate the style, glamour and sophistication of the Jazz Age.

Over 60 contemporary, international glass artists who transform molten glass into works of art. Learn about their blown, cast, kiln-formed, lampwork, cold work, fusing, laminating, carving, sand blasting, acid etching, and cutting techniques, shared in their own words. See installation pieces, tableware, vases, bottles and stoppers, bowls, sculptures, furniture (including countertops and basins), paperweights, beads, and diptychs. All who enjoy and work in glass will find this an invaluable reference and inspiration to future creativity.

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.

During the occupation of Japan between 1945 and 1952, a world market for small and inexpensive goods was correctly identified as a starting point for rebuilding the Japanese economy. This new book is filled with thousands of once-familiar items of ceramic, paper, glass, celluloid, wood, and papier-mache which were marked "Made in Occupied Japan," and shipped to the United States and the United Kingdom. Today, these items have increased in value and are avidly collected. The book presents over 400 color photographs of the items, shows 133 different manufacturers' marks, and includes a value guide.

Candle powered "fairy lamps" made Victorian and Edwardian homes glow with light, and make modern collectors glow with nostalgia. Over 800 lamps made from 1880 through the 1930s are shown in full color in this new book. The lamps range from the simplest examples given out with boxes of candles to the most extravagant chandelier assemblages made for lords, rajahs, and royalty. As part of the fascinating history of lighting devices and fuels, this work draws upon many primary sources to trace the development of fairy lamps, and catalog examples that can be found on today's market. It provides an indispensable resource for collectors and dealers, of lighting devices, pottery, and art glass.

With the advent of the automobile and the central place it took in society, service stations became one of the dominant businesses in twentieth century America. From the pump in front of the general store to the gleaming full-service stations of the 1940s and 1950s, the oil companies created a niche in popular culture. They produced a wealth of items that now are eagerly sought after by collectors. Everything from the glass globes that adorned early gas pumps to toys, advertising, pinbacks, tire repair kits, and a host of other memorabilia are available. Drawing from the collection of Mitch Stenzler, an early and avid aficionado, Gas Station Collectibles offers nearly 1000 color photographs of these nostalgic and often beautiful artifacts. The clear photos show examples of some of the best of the collectibles available, and a price guide is an invaluable aid to the collector.

The housewares for every purpose-including the well-known Autumn Leaf Pattern dinner wares, the stories of the salesmen who delivered them, and the history of the Jewel Tea Company that sent them forth are explored in great detail in this fascinating book. Over five hundred color and historic black & white photographs accompany the text. Among the product lines explored are Jewel Tea dining services and all the accoutrements to set the perfect table, kitchen wares and cookbooks, household products recommended to furnish the new bride's home, sales items for men only, and toys for children which may stir fond memories of your own. The chapter on unusual sales and premium items found only in collectors' homes today will delight all who are interested in this major twentieth century firm.

This new book explores liberating designs that the age of plastic has brought to kitchen items, toys, furniture, appliances, jewelry, and more. Over 350 items are illustrated in full color. They include a concise description and a value in today's marketplace. The passion for collecting plastic has continued to grow. What was once seen as commonplace is now looked at with nostalgia and an eye for its design. Besides, collecting plastics is fun. The colors, shapes, and design delight the eye and will add to one's personal appearance or to the decor of the home. The information and photographs on these pages will be a welcome addition to the collector's library.

The diverse and lively crafts of today's Navajo people in the Southwest are investigated through this new all color pictorial presentation. The traditional arts are joined by several newly evolving crafts which all reflect the heritage of Navajo culture. The book presents several hundred all color photographs and explanations of the crafts in sections devoted to weaving, pottery, basketry, jewelry, dolls, sandpainting, wood carving, stone sculpture and fetishes. Overall, this is a celebration of the artistic talents of Navajo craftsmen.

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.

Cast iron toys are among the hottest toy collectibles today. Some of the best known of these were made by Kenton, an Ohio firm that operated from the 1890s to the 1950s. Their famous Kenton toys include children's savings banks, toy stoves, trains, circus caravans, cars, fire trucks, nostalgic horse-and-buggy lines, and nodders, all identified and shown here in color photographs and original catalog illustrations. Most famous of all was the authentic Gene Autry toy pistol, which was unveiled in 1937. Two million of these were sold in the first year and a half, and the company prospered from the Singong Cowboy's popularity until 1951. This marvelously well-illustrated and researched book traces the history of Kenton from its days as a boomtown hardware manufacturer in the nineteenth century through the struggles of the two world wars. The growth of the American toy industry is reflected in the chronicle of this important company told with details from the company archives and with the engaging testimony of company employees. The story of Gene Autry's festive visit to Kenton is delightful!

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.

Attention all automotive and petroleum collectors: here is a new book focusing on the Continental Oil Company and its products. Conoco became well-established as an oil supplier during the era of the horse and buggy, and when the automobile craze began to sweep the country, Conoco was ready. It has been providing oil, automobile products, and assistance to travellers for one hundred and twenty years. With almost three hundred full-color pictures of filling stations, car products, promotional giveaways, and original advertisements, this book provides a fascinating glance at American history. It also contains detailed descriptions of Conoco motor oils, road maps, and `Touraide' travel programs, with tips on identifying and dating them. Each item pictured is described in detail, and a price guide is included.

This beautifully illustrated volume presents baskets woven from natural fibers over a long period of time and from diverse American, European and International cultures. Specialized baskets for work places, as architectural elements and for domestic and farm chores are shown in over 400 black and white and 31 color pictures. The text explores the origins of the plants which produce weavable fibres, localized preparation techniques, and a wide variety of weaving styles and forms. The extensive picture captions identify the use, origin, material and size of each basket and reflect the cultural styles. Detailed drawings of many weaves will enable craftsmen today to duplicate and experiment with a variety of materials and patterns.