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Antiques Roadshow Primer by Carol Prisant

Antiques Roadshow Primer by Carol Prisant

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The national treasure hunt, Antiques Roadshow is, in its third season, the most popular show on PBS. Every week it draws millions and millions of viewers to the edge of their seats as independent dealers and specialists from the country's leading auction houses appraise family heirlooms and flea market finds alike. Now this knowledge, authority, and passion is distilled in the Antiques Roadshow Primer, an introductory guide to American Antiques and collectibles.

Antiques Roadshow has taught us to look for fortunes in our attics--perhaps to find, as other lucky souls have, an Anna Poole Peale portrait miniature worth $5,000 to $7,000 or a Confederate sword worth $35,000. Focusing on 11 major areas--including Furniture, Painting, Silver, Jewelry, Porcelain, and Toys--the primer addresses the essential things buyers and collectors need to know, covering vital details for each category, such as shapes, styles, and patterns, provenance, periods, and motifs. A 32-page full-color section amplifies each chapter by illustrating numerous examples of styles and techniques, and individual items are fully identified, often with their appraised value. Above all, it helps even first-timers to answer the two key question every collector must face: Is it old? Is it valuable?

 

Lines snaking around every major and minor U.S. metropolitan civic center are the hallmarks of PBS' wildly popular Antiques Roadshowand may soon queue at library doors. Why? Appraiser-dealer Prisant, with a lot of help from marketing-savvy Workman Publishing, has extracted some of the best finds and tips and data from the TV series, and has added selected background information. Photographs and illustrations are prolific throughout the 10 chapters; either solo or within a chart, all pictures include annotations as well as narrative "crib sheets." From furniture to books and manuscripts, each section features a broad overview of manufacturing and techniques, makers, "discoveries" from the show, distinguishing characteristics, and clues that will reveal the rarity of the object. Easy on the eyes--and the wallet--as well as the best place to begin serious antiquing. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

Through its traveling events and enormously popular series on PBS, Antiques Roadshow has taught us to look for hidden treasures in our attics--perhaps to find, as other lucky souls have, a Baltimore album quilt worth $50,000 or a Seymour card table like the one picked up at a garage sale for $25 and subsequently appraised at $200,000.

Now beginning collectors, antiques lovers, auction-goers, and flea-market mavens can extend their knowledge and hone their instincts with the Antiques Roadshow Primer. A take-you-by-the-hand introductory guide, the primer focuses on traditional categories of antiques and collectibles, including jewelry, silver, paintings, furniture, dolls, toys, metalwork, and porcelain. Not only each chapter but each lively page is brimming with information, providing and introductory overview that will help transform the enthusiast into a connoisseur.

Take "Furniture," for example. It explains how our own craftsmen interpreted and "Americanized" a melting pot of styles like Chippendale and French Empire. How to identify the four categories of old furniture: antique, used, reproduction, and, best of all, period, How to distinguish between old and new veneer and find the distinct pattern of a circular saw, indicating a piece made after 1840. And all of this comes just in the first five pages.

Along the way extensive illustrations, photographs, and charts show both classic and quirky examples, highlighting important visual details, tracing the history of artists and styles, and capturing pertinent Roadshow discoveries. Experts in the field contribute their own tips, sharing such secrets as how to use a scratch test to tell if a stone is Imperial jade or nephrite, and why ill-defined fingers on a bronze statue mean it's a reproduction.

Every collector asks two questions about a piece: Is it old? Is it valuable? And every page of the Antiques Roadshow Primer helps to supply the answer.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Workman Publishing Company; First Edition (December 22, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 076111775X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0761117759
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.74 x 1.45 x 9.5 inches
  • Book grading is based on a score out of 10:

    0-1.5 = poor to good minus
    2.0-3.5 = fair to very good minus
    4.0-5.5 = very good to fine minus
    6.0-7.5 = fine to very fine minus
    8.0 = very fine
    8.5 = very fine plus
    9.0 = very fine/near mint
    9.2 = near mint minus
    9.4 = near mint
    9.6 = near mint plus
    9.8 = near mint to mint
    9.9 = mint
    10.0 = gem mint

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