Collecting Costume Jewelry 101 by Julia Carroll (2007, Paperback, Revised)

I absolutely love these books by Julia Carroll. I had the first edition and had to buy the second edition. I use them constantly. The books have great pictures, even some pictures of the marks from the various makers. Great advice on purchasing, evaluating the condition of, storing and even re-selling. If you only buy one book on costume jewelry, this is the book!! Accurate estimates on values of the specific pieces. I would suggest purchasing not only this book, but her second book as well which is Collecting Costume Jewelry 202 which delves more into specific patents from companies like Coro and Trifari.

I own the first edition of this book (as well as Julia Carroll's 202 book) and it has been used so much that I have had to tape the pages back in! This is a great 2nd edition with many more pictures and additional designers (there's about 50 more pages) that if you own the first book you won't be disappointed with this one. She alphabetizes the designers which makes it easy to find what you're looking for. The pictures are great/clear, and even the values she quotes do not seem overinflated as in so many other books. I highly recommend this book for the novice/beginner collector and even for the more seasoned/expert collectors! If nothing else just looking at the pictures makes for a good "read"!

So you always wanted to collect jewelry-perhaps you already have a collection or maybe your friends tell you "it has no worth" or the phrase "its only costume has crept past their lips" Well show them all!!! And tell the World The Jewels of Today's Trends are Vintage. The Fashion World is Unpredictable but the Jewels of Yester-Year are Here to Stay!!!

I loved the photos throughout this book but thought it wasn't broad enough in showing more of the rarer signed pieces. This would be an excellent beginners book however, many of the prices quoted are totally unrealistic. For the money, this is a good buy as a pretty to look at, fun to read book.

This is an excellent reference book for anyone interested in learning more about Costume Jewelry, especially jewelry that was popular in the mid 20th Century. The book is filled with many, many photos of jewerly and ads related to jewelry of the time. There is a heavy focus on the jewelry by Coro, Karmer, Trifari and Weiss, although jewelry by many other designers are described and shown. This is my number 1 reference book, because of my interest in Trifari.
I purchased it because of my interest in Trifari. Once I owned it I realized that it provided a lot of basic information that my other costume jewelry reference books did not. I recommend this book for the beginning collector or for the person who has an interest in any of the 4 main designers that are covered.

This is a great book, a ton of information, I just love it. Highly recommended.It has a lot of information on all types of costume jewelry, signed and unsigned. The pictures are helpful and the descriptions are accurate.