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New Books for Collectors
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September 2006
Colorful Vintage
Kitchen Towels
by Erin Henderson and Yvonne Barineau
Reviewed by Robert Reed
(Antique & Collectible News Service)
 |
Don’t throw in the towel on the newly released, Colorful Vintage Kitchen Towels by Erin Henderson and Yvonne Barineau. The book and price guide presents a grand review of kitchen towels from the 1930s to the 1960s. Called by various names — tea towels, dish towels, bar towels, work towels, hand towels, or whatever — there are hundreds here.
Henderson is an ardent researcher and scholar of vintage printed linens. Barineau has been a long-time student and collector of linens and quilts of the past.
“We have noticed a marked rise in popularity of this previously overlooked textile in recent years,” noted the authors. “Being obsessed collectors ourselves, it is easy to understand why these items are finally getting the attention they deserve.”
The two writers point out such collectible towels are easily cleaned, easily displayed, and great numbers of designs can be stores in very little space. Other observers might add too that collectible towels are not difficult to transport, and can be readily mailed to other parts of the country with a minimum of packaging care.
“Part of our fascination with these colorful canvases is with the artists themselves. While some designers signed their work, most of the artists’ names will never be known,” they explain.
A chapter covering manufacturers is particularly helpful. It offers brief background and photographs of label/tags for many from America’s Pride and Aristocraft to Wilendure, Weil and Durrse Corporation and Yucca Print.
Another chapter deals with acquisition, cleaning and storage. Additionally there is a section on designers. Many chapters however, while informative and well illustrated, are titled too cute by far. More specific categories would have been more helpful to the reader.
Colorful Vintage Kitchen Towels by Erin Henderson and Yvonne Barineau includes nearly 600 color photos and current prices on each. Softcover, 160 pages, the book is $29.95 plus shipping from Schiffer Publishing, 4880, Lower Valley Rd., Atglen, PA 19310.
Antique Golf Collectibles:
Identification and Value Guide
by Pete Georgiady
Reviewed by Robert Reed
(Antique & Collectible News Service)
 |
There are lots of books on golf collectibles out there. However, Antique Golf Collectibles newly released from Collectibles Books is one of the best organized and delivered of them all.. The wide coverage includes clubs, balls, books, ceramics, metal wares, and all sorts of (paper) ephemera.
“Golf is older than soccer, tennis, and the modern Olympics,” notes author Pete Georgiady. “It is still a relatively quite pastime. It’s not overcrowded, and the items are not overpriced..”
There is extensive coverage of British and American golf clubs. Additionally, there are sections of the book devoted to putters, irons and woods. When it comes to golf balls the edition includes coverage of gutta percha, rubber-core, modern balls, and even golf ball boxes.
“The appeal of golf collectibles includes the nostalgia of observing the sport’s pioneer days. What grows from that initial interest is the realization that golf is memorialize everywhere and that all golf items are collectible,” comments the author.
As proof of that the book offers chapters on golf tees, books, trophies, prints, jewelry, plus toys and games. The section on ephemera provides a look at cigarette cards, vintage photographs, postcards, postage stamps, and lots of other bits of paper.
This fine volume includes 750 color photographs, corresponding current values, and ease in locating anything on the collectibles course.
Antique Golf Collectibles: Identification and Value Guide by Pete Georgiady, hardcover, 302 pages, is $29.95 plus shipping from Collector Books, 1-800-626-5420.
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