Collector Books recently released two fine titles. Collector's Guide to Glass Banks ($24.95 paperback) is a lavish and comprehensive volume. Charles V. Reynolds provides identification and values in this ever-popular field. He covers everything from glass banks and bottle banks to fish bowls and advertising mugs. And there are more than 1,100 full-color photographs! The Ninth Edition of Garage Sales & Flea Market Annual ($19.95 paper) admirably covers modern collectibles, things readily available at today's flea markets and garage sales. Sharon and Bob Huxford lists nearly 25,000 collectibles, including toys, sports cards, cookie jars, movie memorabilia, and old books. There are 750-plus color photos.

Though there are a slew of online auction guidebooks out, Confessions of an Internet Auction Junkie (Prima Tech, $29.99 paper) is the only book that focuses on making a profit from selling "virtually anything" on the Internet. Michael Weber is an energetic and informative writer, and his commendable book covers such topics as An Overview of Online Auctions, Secrets of a Master Bidder, Secrets of a Master Marketeer, Finding Your Own Niche (the author "sells more Kit-Cat clocks than anyone on eBay"), Buying Wholesale, Trade Shows, and the witty "Open A Website and They Will Click!" In the back of the book, Weber includes a CD-ROM with a wealth of software and informatioin, including free clip art, wholesale sources, and Web-master & Internet tools.


Completely revised with over 1,000 full-color photographs, the 9th edition of Collector's Encyclopedia of Fiesta (Collector Books, $24.95) is an excellent reference for Fiesta dinnnerware. Bob and Sharon Huxley not only provide current values, dates, and colors, they give an excellent history of how Fiesta was introduced in 1936 by the Homer Laughlin China Company. The colorful dinnerware was redesigned in 1969, withdrawn in 1973, and finally reissued in 1986 in a variety of colors. The Huxleys give advice on collecting Fiesta, as well as discuss the modern reissues that have been flooding the market.

Collectible Silver Jewelry ($24.95) is another praiseworthy volume from Collector Books. Fred Rezazadeh's identification and values guide has thousands of listings of both unmarked silver jewelry pieces and pieces produced by about 100 U.S. manufacturers. Also covered are more than 150 foreign manufacturers, along with their trademarks and natioinal silver standard marks. The author does an estimable job of emphasizing those pieces which the average collector or dealer is most likely to find on the marketplace. The book contains 950-plus full-color pictures.

Featuring more than 200 exquisite color pictures, Coca-Cola (Courage Books, $17.99) is a superb guide to "new and vintage Coca-Cola memorabilia." Randy Schaeffer and Bill Bateman have amassed the world's largest private collection of Coca-Cola items. Thus, the authors are aptly qualified us this overview of thousands of Coca-Cola products, both common and hard-to-find. They tell us about the first bottles ever produced (1894), show a Ceramic Syrup Urn (c. 1900), write about periodical advertising, and offer detailed information about such items as signs, toys, games, novelty products, and those marvelous Coca-Cola trays. Schaeffer and Bateman also give expert advice on collecting and displaying both modern and old Coca-cola antiques. In the Appendix, the authors list over a dozen books on Coca-Cola collectibles and useful addresses for auctions, catalogs, and museum stores. Note: This value-priced work was published in 1995, but I'm just now coming across it.

Published to mark the 100th anniversary of Lionel trains, Greenberg's Guide to Lionel Trains 1945-1969 (Kalmback, $44.95 paper) is a comprehensive and beautifully-illustrated volume. This 10th edition of Volume I (which covers motive power and rolling stock) has, among things, new essays that spotlight the most important trains produced during the postwar period, over two dozen new photographs (primarily in the tank car, carboose, and passenger car chapters), new pricing that accurately reflects the evolving postwar market, and all newly-scanned images for greater color and clearer details. Paul V. Ambrose compiled this handsome title.


Robert Shaw's American Baskets (Clarkson Potter, $45) is an exquisite volume. It is the first tome that is solely devoted to the historical, cultural, and artistic merits of basketry throughout the country. The book covers--among other regions--the Aleut baskets of Alaska, the baskets of the Pacific Northwest, New England baskets, Appalachian baskets, and baskets from the Southeast Native Americans. Shaw also examines the immensely-skilled African American basketmakers along the Southeast coast--particularly in the Charleston (SC) area. The color photographs are bright and sharp, and they grace every page. There are also some b/w historic photos, such as the one of master basketmaker Alfred Graham teaching a class at the Penn School, on St. Helena Island, in the early 1900's. Some of the truly outstanding color pictures and baskets include "Nested Set of Baskets" (Chitimacha/Louisiana/late 19th-century), "Ribbed Basket with Hinged Lid" (probably Cherokee/Tennessee/c.1920), Cordelia Everidge's "Dream Basket" (c.1920/North Carolina), and Mary Jackson's "Two Lips Basket" (c.1997/Charleston, SC). Shaw provides excellent advice on caring for and collecting baskets from each regional and cultural listing.