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Petretti's Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide (Petretti's Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide, 11th Ed)

Petretti's Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide (Petretti's Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide, 11th Ed)

List Price: $47.95
Your Price: $32.61
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Too Much HYPE !
Review: A lot of pictures. Prices that reflect nothing on reality. Not one Cleveland Electric Neon Clock. Not one American Time Clock. I have 3 originals hanging in front of me. Missing some of the major buttons. Typical collectors book. Pictures of everything that's out there, except the rare items you buy these books to find out about. Total dissapointment. I have stacks of collector books that have proven useless. There all written by the "authority" on the subject on hand. I think this explains the ... in collecting and the stacks of used books available. If you're going to make a "Know It All" book, than you better know at least %90. Monster let down.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very informative,well done
Review: displays more items and prices than any other coke guide that i could find.this book had info on a item in my collection that no other did

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great resource, but are the prices realistic?
Review: I have owned most editions of this book, and as a resource for researching Coca Cola memorabilia, I would have to say it is unsurpassed. I haven't seen any other guides come close in the number of items shown.

I do question the pricing of these items, however. I don't see how everything can continually increase in price from one edition to another, especially when you consider internet sales activity (a very large part of Coca Cola memorabilia sales nowadays). As a collector, I never pay at price-levels shown in this edition, and I certainly do not obtain these prices when I occasionally sell an item off on an internet auction site. I just feel that the prices are a bit inflated. No one could keep track of the huge amounts of Coca Cola memorabilia sales in all venues around the country. I tend to take pricing in guidebooks with a grain of salt, especially, as in this case, when the author is also a major collector. Just a little too much potential for conflict of interest.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great resource, but are the prices realistic?
Review: I have owned most editions of this book, and as a resource for researching Coca Cola memorabilia, I would have to say it is unsurpassed. I haven't seen any other guides come close in the number of items shown.

I do question the pricing of these items, however. I don't see how everything can continually increase in price from one edition to another, especially when you consider internet sales activity (a very large part of Coca Cola memorabilia sales nowadays). As a collector, I never pay at price-levels shown in this edition, and I certainly do not obtain these prices when I occasionally sell an item off on an internet auction site. I just feel that the prices are a bit inflated. No one could keep track of the huge amounts of Coca Cola memorabilia sales in all venues around the country. I tend to take pricing in guidebooks with a grain of salt, especially, as in this case, when the author is also a major collector. Just a little too much potential for conflict of interest.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WHY NO BLOTTERS??
Review: I'm very dissapointed in this book! After waiting 3 months beyond the original publish date, I find there are no blotter pages. I understand there will be no more blotters in future books, also. As I've been buying and selling blotters based on the Petretti's prices, I feel I cannot give this book a good rating. Also, why do we now have to jump all over the place to find the trays? They used to be simplified in one area.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Fed Up With This One, Too
Review: Right off the bat: I agree that the omission of blotters and assorted other collectibles from this guide is a gaping omission as big as a barn. I hardly use this guide anymore for several reasons:

1) The back index is as bad as they come. Totally incomplete.

2) You want to find a certain tray? Be prepared to bounce from one end of the book to the other looking for what you need. There is no apparent logic to the way this guide is arranged. I'm sure the author felt it was completely logical, but his logic escapes me.

3) The front index is just painful to figure out. There is a usability book out there called "Don't Make Me Think". The author of this Coke guide should study it.

4) Too much rhetoric and opinion about "fantasy" items. I find this section of the guide painful to sift through. Just the facts, please. And then there's the illogical order of everything .

The best that can be said about this guide is that it's big. It is poorly organized and has way too many omissions to be my primary guide. If a 12th edition ever comes out, I'm going to check it out before buying, to see if these problems have been fixed.

I much prefer Wilsons' guide over this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great coverage - but shame-on Allan's pricing...
Review: This book has excellent pictures and wide range of coverage - more than in any of the prior editions.

I did find some inconsistancies in item pricing (Litchfield bottle pg 398 - $70 and same item pg 400 - $55, pg 152 item pcs108.000 - $1300 and same item pcs108.000 pg 87 - $1000). Given that this book has become the "bible" for Coca-Cola collecting - these inconsistancies can cause some problems...

I could overlook some of the pricing errors - heck there's thousands and thousands of items and no one is perfect. But the real problem I have is how high the prices are for all of the items.

Let me get on my soapbox for a minute and conclude by saying that I've been collecting 1890's - 1930's Coca Cola items for the past 20 years and have acquired a pretty extensive collection. I have to say that in my humble opinion the prices that are in this book are dangerously overstated - perhaps in an attempt to help us older guys as we approach retirement. Afterall, we are the one's that acquired the vintage, quality items inexpensively in the early days... In the end I'm not sure its working -- in fact I think the prices have begun to fall!!! One only has to look at the prices being realized on auction sites like ebay to see what I mean - even the "near mint" items don't even come close to the prices in the 10th edition, let alone those in the 11th. Many desirable items have no activity because of greedy sellers that set minimum prices that are out of sync with demand.

I think the high pricing in guides like this actually harms the market, since most collectors can no longer afford the older, quality items. As the old-timers have seen, in the end - the winners are the manufacturers of the recent garbage made in CHINA as it becomes desireable since it's the only thing that's affordable. Vintage-item collectors die-out or begin to get frustrated since they can't find quality merchandise at affordable prices and move on to other hobbies, and there are no replacement collectors coming in.

At this stage, as an old-time collector, I shouldn't complain I guess. Because of Allan's books my items have appreciated substantially. But I still enjoy the hobby - yet I can hardly afford to stay with it. I'm fearful that the number of vintage-item collectors is wanning, and the interest in the hobby is really falling off. If that happens - we will soon find ourselves using Shelly and Helen's old 1970's four volume price guides to buy and sell.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad afterall...



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEST COCA-COLA PRICE GUIDE!
Review: THIS COCA-COLA PRICE GUIDE IS THE BEST I THE WORLD BECAUSE IT TELLS YOU SOME SIZES OF THE ITEMS AND THE PRICE. I THINK IT'S HELPFUL FOR NEW AND OLD COCA-COLA COLLECTORS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEST COCA-COLA PRICE GUIDE!
Review: THIS COCA-COLA PRICE GUIDE IS THE BEST I THE WORLD BECAUSE IT TELLS YOU SOME SIZES OF THE ITEMS AND THE PRICE. I THINK IT'S HELPFUL FOR NEW AND OLD COCA-COLA COLLECTORS.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great coverage - but shame-on Allan's pricing...
Review: This massive 648 page hardcover library volume is the 10th edition containing more than SIX THOUSAND sharp photos including 324 in super full color. It is truly an encyclopedia of Coke collectibles. There's a ton of background information and fascinating history of the popular collectible. Topics range from the Coke Company, Signs, Displays, Sports, Banners, Trays to Coolers, Dispensers, Buttons, Menus, Trade Cards to Periodical Advertising, School Stuff and Carton Inserts. Wow. I don't know how such a large variety of items can be located and organized. For the first time, each of the items has been assigned a Petretti number along with a value. Any Coke collector would be delighted with this volume that weighs nearly 5 pounds. A 5 star rating on this one.


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