Sweetheart Jewelry and Collectibles (Schiffer Book for Collectors With Value Guide)

Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but not much out there
Review: I am a WWII British sweetheart collector. This book is known as "The Black Book". He also wrote another, which I reccomend, called "Antique Sweetheart Jewelry" (the red book). Both are good additions to any sweetheart collectors library. Now to the book. It has great photos. They are probably the books most valuable asset. You will be able to find things more by the photos than the descriptions or the sections. The problems with this book are numerous. At least one color plate is mirrored. Several pins were photographed upside down. The prices are not even close to accurate. If they were I would be a millionare. (but this is a commomn problemn with any antique price guide book, if you want to find out the current price of things, go to eBay or a militaria fair) He also has many, many pins in the wrong category. British war relief are misidentified and put in with international sweethearts. Some WWI are in mixed in with WWII. The book, while an excellent tool, is far from perfect and should not be taken as the difinitive voice in sweetheart collecting. I would love to see Mr. Snider do another book and focus *only* on sweetheart jewelry. Leave out the ephemera, compacts, hankies and all the other bits and bobs he tries to jam in this book. This is a complicated type of jewelry to collect. Anyone with the brains and money enough to put a new book on the market, that is accurate will have the collectors standing in line for it. If you are considering it, buy it. You will benefit from the good parts of it and just take the rest with a grain of salt.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but not much out there
Review: I am a WWII British sweetheart collector. This book is known as "The Black Book". He also wrote another, which I reccomend, called "Antique Sweetheart Jewelry" (the red book). Both are good additions to any sweetheart collectors library. Now to the book. It has great photos. They are probably the books most valuable asset. You will be able to find things more by the photos than the descriptions or the sections. The problems with this book are numerous. At least one color plate is mirrored. Several pins were photographed upside down. The prices are not even close to accurate. If they were I would be a millionare. (but this is a commomn problemn with any antique price guide book, if you want to find out the current price of things, go to eBay or a militaria fair) He also has many, many pins in the wrong category. British war relief are misidentified and put in with international sweethearts. Some WWI are in mixed in with WWII. The book, while an excellent tool, is far from perfect and should not be taken as the difinitive voice in sweetheart collecting. I would love to see Mr. Snider do another book and focus *only* on sweetheart jewelry. Leave out the ephemera, compacts, hankies and all the other bits and bobs he tries to jam in this book. This is a complicated type of jewelry to collect. Anyone with the brains and money enough to put a new book on the market, that is accurate will have the collectors standing in line for it. If you are considering it, buy it. You will benefit from the good parts of it and just take the rest with a grain of salt.

Rating:
Summary: Not the Definitive Guide We were Promised
Review: Nick Snider's book has been credited with bringing hundreds of new collectors to the field of sweetheart jewelry. As an avid homefront jewelry collector, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I was disappointed to find page after page of photographs with hardly any description or even identification! World War I jewelry was mixed together in the same photo with jewelry from World War II. Pins from American war relief organizations were listed under "foreign". Short essays at the beginning of each chapter were informative, but hard to relate to the pieces displayed with them. In my judgement, homefront and sweetheart jewelry collectors will still be looking for that "definitive guide" to our avocation.